retail assistant manager

assistant manager

store manager

assistant retail sales manager

boutique manager

Francescas

Maybe I was just a little too involved, but this job became my life. There wasn't a day I wasn't scheduled that I wasn't actually there or checking up on my team! 

Background: I wanted a good part-time job, and just left a tween store, so I had little to no experience under my belt (2nd year college). I applied and was offered an interview the day they wanted me to come in! I came in for my interview and met with the District Manager, she asked me a couple questions about myself, my availability, and my personal style.  I was hired after I left my interview. Super easy! 

Fast forward a couple months in, I became a key holder, and then fast forward a couple more months again, I became Assistant Manager! I honestly didn't think I would even like working retail, but if you LOVE to go shopping literally EVERY DAY, this job is for you(...maybe).  I loved the clothes (some of it was very overpriced and not worth it, but for the most part trendy!). I always knew I wanted to work my way up the ladder and Francesca's is a great place if you want to excel wand work your way up! They definitely believe in hiring from within, so if you don't think you'll ever get the experience you need, this is a good place to get it if you want to become upper management one day! 

I loved my team, I made our schedules and I definitely tried to work with every single one of them, made sure to know class schedules, and made sure to keep an eye out for Midterms and Finals. In my mind, if your manager tries to get to know you, coaches you, cares about you, he/she's an awesome manager! 

What to Expect:
If you're a Stylist: expect to come in at the time of your shift, put your stuff in the back, come back on the floor and choose 3 items of jewelry, (you must write the SKU #'s on your boutique sheet), you go to your current manager on the floor (this may be a Keyholder or Assistant Manager/Manager) they will "Frannie-Five" you! What this means is, they'll give you goals for the day, answer questions that you have, and give you other tasks as well. As a stylist, it is your responsibility to go where your manager tells you, if she/he says you are a greeter, your main focus is staying up at the front making sure everything is nice and neat. When a guest comes in make sure she feels welcome, try to stray away from "Welcome to Francesca's" instead, start with a "hello ladies, how are we doing today? I see you have lots of shopping bags! What all did you get?" We try to have open-ended questions, keep them talking, ask the guest about her! Your manager should give you lots of tips on this!
If you're the fitting room stylist, it is your job to ask if the guest needs a different size or you can also pair jewelry, shoes, accessories with the look so she can see the entire outfit! Sometimes we have a guest that comes in all by herself and wants an opinion, be that "best friend" and give her confidence! 

If you're a manager/keyholder: You definitely aren't paid enough! I really did love my job so I didn't think too much of it! I loved coming in early to get on the phone for conference calls, I loved Monday or Friday conference calls with other boutiques to make sure we were all on the same page! I loved coaching new stylists/keyholders! I loved using my own style to help make windows pretty! I did not love bank runs... those were my least favorite. Making the schedule was a challenge at times, but I liked the responsibility. We do a lot of work for not so much pay. We do get benefits, but we're not paid enough as we should to have peace of mind! 

If there's one thing I learned from this experience, it was how to leave my comfort zone and actually talk to people! Confidence people!

Pros: 
- Flexible schedule (if you're part-time) | Mandated schedule for managers (easier during offseasons, stricter when it's close to a holiday!!!!) 

 - Easy going (if you have a nice manager/assistant manager!) If you are the manager or assistant manager.. not so much!!! My store was filled with sorority girls (like myself) and some very interesting people!!!  

 - Nice discount - store managers have better discounts!! But 30% isn't bad, and sometimes there are competitions between boutiques in your region and you may be eligible for even 50% off and other bonuses (stylists/managers) 

 - Confidence building: you are "pushed" to talk to guests, it's your job! This can make it easier to talk to people. 

 - Shopping every day! My store got shipment Every Day. That meant I got 1st choice on clothes and I took advantage of it! I loved buying everything!! Ooops! 

Cons: 
- Managers are underpaid: they do A LOT!   - Upper management above boutique managers can be too pushy!!!   

- Most boutique managers work more than 40 hrs/wk and have nothing to show for it. I was an assistant manager part time... and loved getting overtime!!! :)   

- Breaks are 30 min... that's not enough time for me... 

- Managers/Assistant Managers have to work certain days/hours during the holidays. 

 - YOU MUST WORK HOLIDAYS... EXPECT TO! (Stylists and Managers)  

- Goals are too high sometimes! Also... they keep building more stores... so it's difficult to compete with each other!

- You could say I became a little too obsessed with this job because I was coming home and already stressing out about the next day. Whenever I took a vacation I stressed out because I didn't know if the store would be okay... !!! EEK

I worked in the San Francisco location and I had to deal with an Asst. manager who had a chip on her shoulder, thought she was the top of the top and had a horrible attitude. I guess every store manager had a problem with her previously. Anyway, She had applied for my position and didn't get it probably due to her attitude and demeanor and experience and so any store manager that would come in after that, she would try to start trouble by reporting false accusations about them and make up statements about them and when it was reported to the regional and district manager, they would turn it around and put blame on the store manager and point out bad characteristics about the store manager. So this Asst. is unfortunately protected in the worst way possible and that is unfortunate because she needs to change her attitude and the way she treats her upper managers. She is highly insubordinate, and disrespectful, at times rude to customers, causing scenes with customers, causing a scene with other associates, act out aggressively, has made RACIST and prejudice comments towards their store managers of a different race and reacted to issues in a physical aggressive manner and each time these issues among other things were brought to the regional and district manager's attention repeatedly, they would ignore the issue (which is against company policy), and claim that she is the best employee ever and not support the store manager and instead of supporting their store manager, they would tell the store manager, "you are the problem.. not your Assistant. She is the best!"
 They did not support their store managers at all and instead would create false and inappropriate ways (with a member of HR who by the way is held to a confidential agreement policy and a member who is friends with the District manager and Regional manager, broke the confidentially law and agreement when she went to these two and announced that the store manager had made claims and complaints about their precious Assistant manager regarding a racist claim and abuse claim)  which resulted in back lash to the store manager and retaliation towards the store manager from the District manager, regional manager and the Assistant manager, which also lead to her being terminated due to what they called as "complaining about their best employee too much."  = Wrongful termination...
Working for this company in the bay area especially on 19th ave in San Francisco is a bad idea because they are protecting the worst employee in history and if you want a job for this company, seek other  locations.
The Area manager and District manager will not have your back or support you as they have demonstrated with other previous managers for the past years and unfortunately still nothing has been done about the Dist. manager, the regional manager and the Asst. at this store for collaborating against previous store managers for complaining about reasonable issues within the store that should not be taken lightly. I hope Francescas does not take such issues lightly or support these people for such actions and they should know what goes on that they are not aware of because since this has continued to happen, they continue to go through managers like water. There's something wrong there when your managers turn-over rate is high.  

Other than that, this company is a good company and good to work for. It is typical retail and you manage a small store and depends who you work with, they are good. In this case, the people at this location are not good and the hardest park of this job is working with insubordinate people and not receiving the support you were promised when you were hired. Actually both Dist. and regional managers lied and made fake promises so that someone would take the position because they needed a manager desperately and once you take the position, all those lies and fake promises come out to where in reality the things promises to you are not going to be granted unfortunately.  Just do not work for this location unless there is a change. I do not recommend it. 

My advice to Francesca's Corporate Team goes as follows;
Take back control. Be honest and informative. Make some major choices and stand by them. Mend the lack of trust created or allow long time employees to find another company who will appreciate and reward their work ethic. Remain direct and available. Reflect, take action and provide all that will be necessary to truly advance in whatever direction you do choose... With growth also comes sacrifice. The company must choose to either sacrifice it's authenticity (along with the competitive edge that brought it such success to begin with) in exchange for continued allowance of low wages and instant gratification in sales. OR it can sacrifice that need for instant gratification by slowing down, allocating payroll hours/ adequate tools/ actual competitive pay and eventually higher volume inventory to the stores that have already proven their capabilities and hard work (instead of neglecting them and opening countless new stores), in exchange for being able to actually achieve and surpass the constant tasks/high sales goals in due time. Undeniably, It is both unethical and Ill advised to attempt to maintain that "classic quaint charm" of a small privately owned shop, while multiplying in mass abundance and distribution. Universal retailers succeed with the "quality over quantity" mentality, by dedicating a significant portion of profit towards high efficiency technology, maintaining a precisely consistent inventory vs payroll ratio, providing full time employee benefits/sales incentive bonuses, and projecting a set of pre-determined concise rules/regulations that only further solidify the brand as it expands rather than appealing to individuals and circumstantial factors. If big #'s and low pay is what you plan to keep mindlessly demanding as the company grows, you're no different than every other mediocre apathetic retailer at constant risk of replacement. Sure at first it works but it isn't what Francesca's was founded upon and it isn't reliable in the long run. Francesca's has always held employees to a high standard and an ever evolving work load. This is something we're happy to keep providing with 100% heart as the company expands on a more SECURED level, if given the same patience and honest credit we've given you for so long. I can promise that if provided even the most minimally adequate tools, staff, compensation and time, it is more than possible for the company to grow SLOWLY, AUTHENTICALLY & ULTIMATELY VERY SUCCESSFULLY. I hope the company chooses the honest and proven route of quality vs quantity in every single form of the phrase.

I was a “Stylist” which is what they call sales associates. I first started there without any training from my manager, only videos on a computer. This particular store was very gossip filled, so instead of my manager confronting me on my actions (which I also had no idea were wrong because I watched every manager do the same things) they had just told all of the sales leads to tell me specifically to stop that certain behavior, it was mortifying! Along with that, Francesca’s has a really strict greeting process. They pretty much expect you to have a 5 minute conversation with every customer that walks in the store...not only that but you had to make it “seem” casual and not scripted...but if we missed a part of the script we would get scolded, there was not win in that situation. And once you got the hang of your casual script, the district manager would visit the store quite often and she almost always told us that we were doing something wrong when greeting the guests.  There was absolutely no opportunity for growth at that store, all the managers were hired outside of the company and none of them ever got promoted, no one above me ever mentioned there being opportunities to for me to grow within the company. The store was also really small, besides the weekend there was never more than two people working (a manager and a stylist)...the most annoying thing about this company compared to previous that I worked at, the associates were responsible for greeting, grabbing sizes, straightening the racks, and cash out every customer. The only job of the manager was to help style the customers, which meant that 90% of the time the manager was just standing in the store twiddling their thumbs or sneaking onto their phone. About a month before I left the company, corporate made changes to conserve their money, when this happened, during the week days there was only ever one person in the store (obviously it had to be a manager) so the only days that associates got scheduled were Friday nights, or on Saturday or Sunday...there were multiple weeks that I either didn’t get a shift, or I got one shift (the shifts were only 3 hours too) my last two paychecks were literally $20! The whole schedule change sucked! We would have to remember all our access codes, greeting routine, and knowledge of what merchandise what new or just where old merchandise was located. I found it extremely annoying to have to take time out of my weekend to spend an hour total just driving to and from and I was only going to be working for 3 hours! When I left, almost all of the associates and managers I had worked with were either quitting or being fired. After I left, the assistant manager left the company and the store manager was fired! I have no regrets about leaving this job, it was such a minuscule job that required A LOT of effort in customer service. Oh and I forgot to mention that 95% of the customers hated our greeting process and there were rarely any customers that actually wanted help! I honestly will never even go to Francesca’s to shop again because I know how terrible the working environment is at Francesca’s!

I'm going to be completely honest about my experience, so people who are looking to join this job can... stay away. Their application process is fairly simple, and depending on the location you apply to, your manager will give you an answer within 3 days or so. My manager told me that a Stylist (a fancy name for Store Associate) typically goes to through a 2-step interview (one w/ the boutique manager and one with the District Manager), although I was hired without having to go through that second interview. 

My first-day training was one of the worst experiences I have ever gone through in retail. To provide some context, I was previously employed with other retail stores and had a year of customer service experience before applying to this place, and my transition period between my previous job and Francesca's was a month, so I was fairly familiar with the responsibilities of a store associate. My Manager and her Assistant Team Lead were cliquey and did not work to incorporate me into the work culture. I was looked down at and was bullied by my co-workers for not knowing the norms of the job. I tried to speak up in their conversations and include myself, but they ignored me and continued on as if I wasn't there. The team lead was especially nasty to me and I'm pretty sure she thought I was really stupid lol. They never highlighted what I did right, and was more than happy to tell me what I did wrong. I was reprimanded by both whenever I didn't stick to the customer service script. Francesca's prides themselves on "putting the customer first" but forces employees to engage in a full 2-minute conversation with a guest that makes interacting with customers seem beyond uncomfortable. My manager and team lead told me to never ask "what are you looking for," but instead to ask, "what special occasions are you shopping for." I would have to "connect with the customer" by finding something cute about the customer, ie "wow I love that ___." Whether it be a bag or blouse or shoes a customer is wearing, we had to compliment them on appearance. This felt forced and ingenuine, but both my co-workers were able to be fake compliments on command for the sake of getting a successful sale. I would be scolded if I was unable to find out what a customer was coming in for and not getting their name. Even worse, as a stylist, you are forced to constantly follow your customer around the store. I'm telling you- the Francesca's "promise" is horrible. Many guests are turned off by this in-your-face customer service and are ready to walk out the door. You can't assume that every customer wants to be engaged with- a lot of them like to independently shop, and will ask an employee if they need help (which I am more than happy to provide). 

Above all of this, I was only paid $8/hr. The work environment was toxic, and it seemed like the Manager had no connection with upper-level management. Benefits are dismal. You will often find yourself alone on the floor, as these boutiques are heavily understaffed (or because your manager and team lead much rather talk smack about you in the back while you take care of customers haha!). I don't think this place is worth it. There are better experiences to have had at other retail stores. Just.. stay away!

Applying to Francesca's has always been a dream to me, as it has always seemed like a fantasy from the outside. It had the cutest clothes, the store had a nice rustic look, and the people seemed to be pleasant when I was at first just a customer. 

BUT, actually working as an employee and being behind the scenes of the whole job itself, was heartbreaking and exhausting. There were days where I would cry to myself at work because I had made a mistake or I just knew that their expectations was EXTREMELY high for no reason, and I just couldn't meet the unrealistic, captialistic, impossible standards. A normal day at work would be checking in, realizing that the store is pretty empty at first, and then having to really-  and I mean REALLY bond with the people around you. Because it basically is just the two of you. Or you're alone. Which is absolutely not safe, but who cares because the company said so right??

I wouldn't say I didn't enjoy the company of my coworkers, I truly did have a laugh with them and bonded with them. But the company itself- is outrageous. It's so outrageous that it causes management to place unrealistic standards on the workers below them, just because the people up top would pressure them, saying that the store is doing bad, that we aren't making enough money, and that you need to get your people in check. There is a whole STEP BY STEP list on how to socially interact with each customer that comes in, which I absolutely despise. I would rather remain unemployed forever than have to hear those two words that they would tell me to do every-time a customer would walk in. Do 'the promise.' NO, I won't. 

Now, I can't even look my future husband in the eye and say the word promise. (LOL)

Anyways, the step by step process is not even natural. Or ethical, in my opinion. It is basically a 10 step procedure on how to sell items, and how to be fake nice to the customers that come in, with no regard to how played out this can be, and how inauthentic human interaction had become to me. It was tearing me apart. 

What made it even worse was that the management didn't even do these steps either, so what made them think that I would happily do them with ease? I am definitely not the type of person to lie to a customers face by complimenting them just to get a buck out of it....  oh the wonders of capitalism. Never again. 

It's not to say that I didn't have wonderful interactions with customers but it SURE wasn't through the step by step procedure they would push on us. It was through my personality and me actually being genuine. 

Also, the turnover rate is horrible, but it makes sense honestly. 

Also, the company itself needs to work on accepting the fact that woman are not only size Small's and that it is absolutely okay to send in more than 1 X-large's. Trust me, it will sell. All you have to do is show women that they are worth it enough to provide the product to them. How shameful. 

Do not work here unless you want to be a slave to capitalism. The promise is not even a good marketing technique, and it terrifies customers. I think the company isn't doing to well anyway. I really want you all to know that if you will for sure be happier somewhere else.

Francesca's as a whole needs to get it together. Upper management (district and above levels) only care about the metrics. Employees spend long hours alone with no breaks for food or to use the bathroom. You never know when there is going to be a promotion change or markdowns or other tasks that need extra hours but they don't provide adequate payroll- and usually one person is left to do all of these types of tasks all while "running the show" and following the promise. The "promise" sounds nice on paper but guests hate it, they don't want you following them around the store and shopping with/for them/ asking them a million questions. Management pushes "guest capture" and basically forces you to get every guests phone number and email before their transaction. We are to tell them it is for a "rewards program" but I was with the company for over a year and there were zero loyalty events where anyone could use the "points" supposedly saved in this "rewards program." Constantly helping out other boutiques out of state because turn over rate is so high - management is always freaking out trying to hire more people because everyone leaves as the company does pay NEARLY enough to part time key holders and they either get all the hours or none. Most part time key holders are students and the lack of consistency in hours makes it impossible for them to plan their lives. Not sure if it is a common theme among boutiques or if it was mine in particular but we NEVER knew our schedule. It would be the night prior to new schedule starting and none of us would have received it from our manager yet, and that was a consistent thing. BTL is supposed to work a specific number of hours a week as well as specific opening/closing shifts and a certain number of weekends... i have yet to see any BTL actually follow that guideline. It seems as though schedules are only made around the BTL's life and thats extremely frustrating as all employees have lives outside of francescas- not just the BTL. 

Didn't seem like a horrible job at first but I'm tired of working for companies who don't care about their employees what so ever.

I was hired by francesca's in the fall of 2016 and at that time I love a lot of what I was told about the company - like: zero debt, continually growing and opening boutiques and that they truly put their people first. over my time with the company I realized that the ability to put people first falls by the wayside when they company starts to lose money. in an effort to not go into debt they: laid off 2/3 of the home office, including rescinding offers for post graduation employment to interns and did not communicate to field team. they did not offer merit increases for fiscal year 2018, even though that is what 60% of our annual performance review is based on. and lastly, they will find anyway to save a dollar, such as terminating/forcing resignations from what they consider to be "over paid" team members - only to replace them with lesser qualified people that they can pay significantly less (by more than $6/hr). They expect BTLs to recruit and retain "top talent" while offering minimum wage or slightly more ($8) for lowest level associates - $13 hours for assistant team leaders (assistant store manager). Additionally they do not support the boutiques with simple tasks, such as: bathroom supplies (severely delayed, if they show up at all). They have an overly inflated idea of what "guest service" is...guests DO NOT want to be hounded...associates DO NOT want to hound guests (especially when they're not being paid commission to do so). The "francesca's promise" is a joke. Be authentic, have a real conversation with guests (if they want to talk) and give them your honest feedback (don't try to upsell them on earrings if they've told you they have some that they want to wear with the dress they're buying). They dumped tuns of money into sending "instagram influencers" to CMA fest & Lollapalooza to gain better photos for their e-commerce presence - which essential is stealing business from their own brick & mortar boutiques.  Overall, RUN, run FAR AWAY.

I've worked at Francesca's for a little over two years now. It started out as a part-time job that I got when starting college but quickly turned into a full-time job within a year. I loved working there in the first year, waking up ready to get to work. It was very fun and easy-going. While I didn't like the current sales approach that seemed too pushy, I enjoyed it. Once I had a management change, everything went downhill. I believe my new manager did their best but it was a struggle to balance school, personal life, and work and expect me to come in every time someone called out or any minor issue happened. Our new manager left abruptly and I was asked if I could handle being an interim manager for a short time and I said yes but only for about two weeks but that lasted for about a month and a half. Keep in mind that I was only the assistant manager at the time, working part-time, and in school full-time. We were also severely understaffed with only me and two other employees who both were in school and had other jobs and engagements. I would sometimes work a full day (10-hour shift) with no break because there was no one else. They eventually sent in a manager from another boutique to help lighten the load until a new manager was found. Once the new manager was trained I went back to being the assistant manager and worked there until I had to move. Overall, it is a good job starting out especially for high school or college students who just want to work part-time but as time goes on it can get progressively worse. I believe that they had too high expectations for the managers and assistant managers in terms of scheduling, shifts, and how much of our lives we should dedicate to this job. I don't think that they truly care for their employees and their well-being. I wouldn't recommend this job unless you just want to work part-time as a stylist or sales lead. 

The typical customer interaction here is great. Most customers are interested in new items and looking for new ways to update their wardrobe, so helping them is a lot of fun because it feels like dress up. Management however, is another story. At the Onalaska, WI location, it became quickly apparent how clique-y things are. Many of the employees were former Aeropostale workers and came as a group to Francesca's when it opened. The Assistant Manager lived with the Store Manager. Talk about a conflict of interest! That being said, if a problem arose and you weren't in the "clique," you were the one who was punished and not taken seriously. This is NOT a commission based job, yet they sales track and you are punished if your sales do not meet the desired goals, but none of this is stated or explained when hired. You are expected to make this job a priority, over everything else in your life. For example, one employee was asked to not go on a vacation that she had planned for weeks because the manager wanted a few days off. On one instance, I was made to come in during a night I had asked off 3 weeks in advance to study for finals (which were the next morning) because someone didn't show up for their shift and being a key holder, this job apparently needed to be my number one priority. On another, more infuriating experience, I had needed off for 2 weeks for a reparative surgery to fix a breathing problem due to injury. The Sales Manager was adamant that I returned sooner than the doctor's orders, because when she had elected to have a breast augmentation, she was back within 10 days, and expected me to make the same time of commitment, even though I would still have a cast on, and impaired breathing. Overall, I really enjoyed the customer interactions. It was some of the best experiences I have had in retail in that regard. Many of the customers were overwhelmingly happy to have help putting together outfits and finding things they had overlooked. I really did enjoy that part of the job!

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Retail assistant manager 23 salaries reported	$13.61 per hour
Assistant manager 10 salaries reported	$15.08 per hour
Store manager 1 salary reported	$47,500 per year
Assistant retail sales manager 3 salaries reported	$17.83 per hour
Boutique manager 1 salary reported	$12.00 per hour

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