associate manager

retail assistant manager

sales associate

store manager

seasonal associate

Hot Topic

Working at Hot Topic has been a grueling experience of being with your kind of people for painful shifts and  expectations. You are paced with the goals from the higher ups who most likely have never worked in retail a day in their life and never get rewarded unless you sacrifice so much energy and labor for upselling their loyalty and sales. People above your store manager are often viewed/described as micromanaging and constantly are out to watch your store's numbers and sales, and offer high expectations on things that are hard to control even when you do your best.

The process of hiring will be a little annoying. They have their application submission  available all the time. Meaning they receive dozens and dozens of applications and most likely never review them consistently unless in need of employees. If you applied, I fully recommend calling and asking if they are in need of new hires (certain positions may have more priority) and then call them days after submitting so they know you are interested. They mostly want people who have knowledge of modern trends/popculture, music, anime, and are passionate about them. (If you have hyperfixations and/or autistic, then you will do just fine!)

Customers and employees are usually friendly and it felt nice to be in such a welcoming community for neurodivergent and LGBT, and to once feel not alone when everyone else is in the same boat as you, but for minimum wage, this job isn't worth the stress of not receiving enough hours/pay as well as working at the biggest mall in Michigan long term. 

Spring/summer/holidays are normally the best for hours, meanwhile beginning of the year/tax season will have you struggling to have any shifts at all and be lucky to have 15 hrs. (Basically do not work in the beginning of the year if you NEED money.) 

It is impossible to get any raises or promotion unless you sunk years into this company and sell your soul into upselling and 'encouraging' customers to spend more money. If you do what you would consider a fair amount of work and get an average score of sales/sign ups, then you will not ever get a raise. 

Although the excruciating conditions of working at retail at the busiest mall are a nightmare, the employees and managers are all super understanding and accommodating for those who have issues whether that is physically or mentally. As long as you do your part and try your best there, as well as routinely try to make it to/through your shifts, if you ever have any issues or need a break to cry/calm down, they're usually very understanding and will help in any way. 

You genuinely obtain a family of rejects/outsiders when you work there, and most employees will support you or fight tooth and nail for you when it comes to helping each other out. The best way to describe is that you would be in good hands from the people around you in the store, but have conditions/expectations that are decided outside of your store manager. 

This job is good for a starting job for those who are scared to work at bigger companies, or those who feel a bit awkward/not like the norm, or even young teenagers who are passionate about music, anime, pop culture, but being there for long will have you exhausted and stressed since you are only paid so little for how much you do there. For those who even struggle with social anxiety or struggle with cashiering can work here, although you would most likely get the same task every shift (greeting) and find yourself feel lonely/left out due to not  being able to handle cashiering or managing. So consider what you are capable of and what you can handle when applying. 

Other details I could include is the company does offer free counseling/therapy for everyone (although limited), and has some events of costume contests, monthly raffles (through earning points from upselling that turn into raffle entries - so may be unfair for those who struggle with social anxiety or being able to obtain good sales), and even store managed parties for fun. 

Working at Hot Topic @ the Block was probably one of the best work experiences I'll have.

What I loved
========
The environment with my other associates was always light-hearted and fun! Got to build good friendships with my peers, which in turn benefited customer service greatly because of better communication.  

The learning curve for the store is actually pretty easy to get around.  The hardest part of the job to learn (personally) was how to process online orders from the register, since customers can order items at the checkout alongside their in-store purchases.  Other than that, understanding how Hot Cash works, knowing your way around the store, and how to use the register, etc., are all pretty simple things that you'll get the hang of within your first month.
(Another thing to note: PT Sales Associates DO NOT need to process returns.  Entirely up to the management positions!)

Scheduling and availability at this store is taken seriously!  Associates will almost never get scheduled for a date/time that they cannot work (based on their availability).  If there's an event you plan to attend, but got told after your schedule came out, don't worry! Management at this store is pretty flexible, and so are your other associates.  Chances are, someone could cover your shift for the day(s) you need.

One really big thing that I enjoyed the most while working with the company is the employee discount.  I'm not certain if I'm legally allowed to disclose it, but it's definitely good.  Works with the in-store deals.


Some things I didn't like
========
The hours at this location are manageable, though not always in your favor.  My HPW (hours per week) varied quite a lot, I once worked as little as 3 hours one week, and had the chance to work 20 hours during another, but only because I picked up two shifts.  Associates usually work for 3(1/2)-5 hours at a time, with only one 15m paid break.  If you're scheduled for a weekday, you're definitely closing, and you're gonna work for 4 hours at least.
I got scheduled on almost every Saturday when I worked with the company, though because of my availability, I would work either morning shift OR closing shift.

Something that bugged me a lot was the schedule release timing.  You'll find very quickly that the company only schedules people 1-2 weeks in advance, nothing more nothing less.  This was my least favorite part, since I had to regularly share my schedule with my family.  If you rely on sharing your schedule with people in your life, this should count as a warning that it will not always go smoothly.

One really big flaw about this store (mostly a flaw with the company) is that Sales Associates are tasked with cleaning and recovering the ENTIRE store by themselves while closing on a weekday.  Management, during closing, mostly handles the money between all the registers and the safe. They really only help outputting stock during closing, but only if it's high-priority items.  During weekends (Fri-Sun), two associates are scheduled to clean the store, which helps A LOT.

If you plan to start a career within the company, be advised that the process to move up from the bottom isn't the most efficient process.  I liked my job because it was part-time, and it was simple.  Moving past being a PTSA and earning a management role isn't really that great, because only the main two Store Managers get paid full-time. Everyone else gets paid part-time.


Overall HTOC has made a huge impact in my career! I didn't just learn skills, I also improved upon my current ones immensely.  HTOC will equip you with more than enough knowledge on how to operate a retail store efficiently, while also balancing independence and teamwork.

Pay & Benefits
The pay is pretty low and really not enough to live on. I was one of the highest paid Assistant Store Managers in my district and it still didn’t feel like enough.

The employee discount is good though. It stacks with in-store sales which is nice and you can get stuff pretty cheap sometimes. It doesn’t stack with customer coupons but that’s pretty standard for retail so I wasn’t surprised by that.

Scheduling & Staffing
Staffing was pretty bare. Most weekday shifts you’re working by yourself, with a little bit of overlap between the morning and evening shifts for breaks.

Two years in a row I was scheduled to close during the extended late Black Friday hours and then come back the next morning to open when we opened early. This wasn’t even something my store manager chose, it was the company schedule. There really wasn’t enough time to close the store, drive home, eat, shower, sleep and come back to open so both years I had to swap out my morning shift just so  could function properly.

Sales Expectations
At some point the sales plan changed and it made things harder. Before, the amount of employee hours you got was tied to the sales you were expected to make. Later on the sales plans stayed the same but the allotted hours were lowered, so basically we were expected to make the same money with less people.

Almost every week I was cutting shifts when I forecasted the sales which felt bad because we already didn’t have many hours to begin with.

Toward the end the expectation was something like one employee for every 35 customers per hour. At the same time my district manager also emphasized spending about 5 minutes with each customer. If you’re by yourself that just doesn’t work. 35 customers per hour at 5 minutes each is already way more time than you actually have (thats 175 minutes to spend with 35 customers in a one hour period), and that’s while also cleaning, stocking, ringing people up, answering the phone, and doing customer online orders.  It just wasn’t realistic.

Management Pressure
January through March was always stressful because sales slowed down after Christmas but corporate and our district manager were still on us constantly about numbers.

There was also a lot of pressure to keep customers happy even if it meant bending the rules. For example we were expected to take returns outside the return window sometimes or return clearance items even though those are technically non-returnable.

Customers & Culture
Collectible items were always a big thing and scalpers were pretty intense about them. The company didn’t really stop them from buying a lot of product as long as they were spending money, but that meant regular customers sometimes never even got a chance to buy the items.

Some of them would try to push for extra discounts too because they were "doing us a favor" which got uncomfortable sometimes.

The culture was great. Most of the customers were great bc of our shared interests. My employees were great too., but it was a huge shame I didn't see them more often bc of the lack of shifts. 

TLDR: Going into management is not worth it. It's good to keep as a second job if you have a primary job. Just get the job for the employee discount. 

Growing up, Hot Topic had always been a place where teenagers desired to work; it was a fun, upbeat environment and it was difficult to get hired. I began working in 2010 as a seasonal employee and was rehired in 2012 as a permanent associate. I was promoted to manager the following year and while Hot Topic is a place I've grown comfortable to be in, it's also a bane in my existence.

A typical day at work involves cleaning up the previous manager's mess - no matter how little or large - in lieu of their lack of desire to finish tasks they've started. It's frequent, but not an every day occurrence. Following that, there's always something to fix or move around in the store aside from selling merchandise to customers or handling customer complaints or concerns. 

Management at Hot Topic is completely on point; the management staff is authoritative but fun and respectable. We strive for success and some achieve it more than others due to ambition and determination. I occasionally find that my boss and I do more work than the other managers and complain a lot less.

The hardest part of the job is getting through the day without one of the managers giving me a migraine in lieu of stressing over little things that are better solved with a calm mind and positive energy. Interpersonal relations are a task when a manager has a superiority complex or acts as if they're the only employee to put in time or effort.

The most enjoyable part of the job, however, is interacting with customers and getting to know them and their interests. Learning about bands and musicians I'd never heard of previously or discovering an interesting television show or trend is an every day occurrence and it brings enlightenment daily. Our customers are an absolute pleasure to assist and always bring interesting and diverse personalities, interests and conversational topics.

I've learned a lot working at Hot Topic and the top lesson is that you must always focus on getting your assignments done and worry less about your co-workers. It's more important to make sure you're doing what you're supposed to before taking on another person's problem(s).

Sometimes I feel as though some people are not mature enough to handle the responsibilities given to them and they have demonstrated that to me time and again; however, I've learned to simply ignore the negative energy and focus on having a good day, that customers are receiving excellent service and that my work is completed by the end of my shift.

It can be stressful to work in this environment when the management is lacking or rather when certain members of management show not a care about the wellbeing of their staff. 

The quality of work is no different from any other retail job you can find, but this store had such an insane turn over rate, not only with sales associates but management as well. You will do 3 jobs at once or you will be taught to/do something you’d need the keys to the store for. Simply the amount of work that is given to you is not worth the amount of money you make here. You will be overworked until you are burnt-out. 

It baffles me how much stuff the management team gets away with. Breaking policy is their middle name. If sales associates did that, getting a stern talking to or a write up would be immediate. Store policy was followed to an extent; if you are the sm and make it super clear to follow the policies that YOU dont even abide by, then why should I do the same? The double standard and hypocrisy with the management team is completely absurd. It is a wonder how these individuals are still employed in their current role and get away with as much as they do. 

It is extremely unfortunate and disappointing to work in an environment with a horrible management team. That’s not to say there were always bad moments, because there wasn’t. But if you lack basic management skills to run your team, ignore many complaints and clear setbacks due to your lack of care and organization, then maybe the highest management position you can receive in a hot topic store is not the best fit for you.
The constant ridicule other members of management and sales associates would receive is baffling. Working at this location, you are bound to be set for failure. When you don’t meet specific quotas for the day and numbers are running low, 9/10 times it’s due to the staff. Not because it’s a weekday, or because there was a winter/severe weather outbreak. Or even if the weather is nice and no one wants to shop. It is because YOU are not working hard enough to achieve (sometimes unachievable) goals left by management. 
More often than not, the staff is set up for failure due to lack of organization and proper guidance due to the SMs absence at the store. How do you expect your employees to do well when you can’t even properly prepare for or set up your employees up with an opportunity for success? 

Consider paying your employees better or treat them with basic respect to expect respect given back to you. If you expect the store and the staff to fail, then failure is evident. 


I was often the member of management responsible for working closing shifts. Due to strict payroll limitations, the sales associates and I would often have to clock out at exactly 10:00pm, while this often did not give us enough time to complete the required closing duties (especially considering our particular store's unusually severe problems with vandalism and theft). My solution was to start working on the closing duties earlier, but this proved ineffective, because these tasks will be undone by shoppers if started early enough. Because we were not supposed to stay on the clock late in order to stay within our payroll budget, I regularly felt pressured to stay and tidy up the store after clocking out, rather than being berated either for exceeding payroll budgets or leaving some tasks uncompleted. I felt as though my training was overly hasty, and I was brought into the company at a time when the store was already experiencing many problems (such as the store's management being very far behind on the task of unloading new merchandise and putting it on display). Despite my performing to and exceeding the predefined standards as stated in the employee manuals, I felt I was often held responsible for these problems.
My co-workers were not usually difficult to work with, with the exception that sales associates did not always follow through on the tasks I told them to complete. Most of the employees there did what they could to be productive and helpful.
I often felt that the store manager (my direct supervisor) claimed that I had been trained on what to do in certain situations when this was not true. Even at times when I referred to the employee manuals and did exactly as they said, sometimes I was told my actions were unacceptable.
I was hired at a store where theft was a very major issue. Dealing with this was often the most difficult part of the job, as there would usually be several shoplifters in the store at any busy time during a shift, while on a normal weekday, there were no more than three employees working in the store.
My favorite parts of the job were easily merchandising and assembling displays, and helping the regular customers. There were several regular customers who specifically came during my shifts, and I really enjoyed knowing that they appreciated my services.

Before anything else: Dress code is pretty chill, not quite sweatpants casual, but jeans/skirt and a tee shirt is enough. You can wear clothes that have stuff from the store on them too. 

If you're going for BoxLunch specifically, you can't have unnatural dyed hair or face piercings generally- but naturally, that's still fine at Hot Topic.

Highly flexible, however you are basically required to have weekend availability as that's when it's most busy, and you should expect to work the days surrounding holidays such as Dec. 24th and 26th, New Year's Day, etc.

A typical day at work as an associate includes being friendly with the customers and helping them out while encouraging them to buy; fixing up the store-folding shirts and putting shipment out on the sales floor; working the cash register.

Store management is pretty decent. Encouraging, acknowledging, and friendly, just frustrating sometimes. Higher-up management is annoying, so it sort of translates through store managers.

Friendly workplace. Everyone is aware that we're all working retail and we try and keep the mood light. Again, managers are very encouraging.

The hardest part of the job is probably just working on registers and it's not too bad. My main complaint is the focus on keeping up loyalty sign-ups, as missed loyalties have to be tracked on a spreadsheet. It's mostly just a hassle to ask people for their phone numbers and to have the same conversations about it all the time- but as long as you do what you can and don't take it too personally when the occasional (one in like 60) customer treats you like garbage at the checkout, you're fine. 

Working around holidays can be stressful with all the store traffic but you just sort of settle into it- coming from someone who can't stand being in crowds. The rest of the time it's not so bad.

The most enjoyable part of the job is being around all the anime, Disney, star wars, marvel, and whatever else that's there. It's easy to talk to customers when they're looking at something from a movie you really like. And the staff are all going to be into that same stuff too. 


I worked here for almost five years- worked up to training to take my own store. The company I started with was completely unrecognizable by the time I went full-time. I guess I could understand pay freezes, but the only raise I got in five years (aside from promotion raises) was literally just about twenty cents- and we were already grossly underpaid for all the work we did. Covid really changed the company culture. When we first reopned it was a mindset of "nothing matters, just make money" which worked GREAT for us- numbers were way better and store culture was far better (aside from the mask requirements). 

However, suddenly right around Christmas numbers mattered again. We were expected to retrain entire teams (who were now about six months in of 'nothing mattered' and kept the mindset) and continue to push that numbers mattered and there would be punishment for not reaching them. It felt like they were constantly trying to push employees out, but we couldn't hire enough people to keep the store staffed.

Management was constantly stressed, and we were always down one member. Our standards were so high and made it tense. Luckily, my store was really great about communicating with each other and understanding that it wasn't our fault that these things were happening- but it didn't stop how awful it felt nonetheless. 

If they wonder why turnover is so high- look at how you're treating your employees. From everyone down at corporate constantly changing and the rules being different one week to the next, to having to constantly retrain on new things at store level... We definitely weren't paid nearly enough for the stress we had to go through. I will concede that the insurance wasn't awful, just massively expensive; the company at least paid during shutdown when they chose to furlough almost all the staff.

I didn't really experience too much toxic/gossip, and the people who were like that were weeded out quickly as the company shifted into a heavily zero-tolerance policy (for better or worse). Also worth noting that though they pushed "don't work when you're not on the clock," I did A LOT of work when on my breaks/over the phone because of how much everyone always needed help. 

Working at Hot Topic HQ was usually fun and the people are mostly easy going. However, management is a joke at Hot Topic HQ. The executives lie to the lower level employees about the current performance of the company and the financial side of the business is in shambles. There is a high turnover of leadership and the executive team is distracted with the companies failing ecommerce performance and inability to gets its online orders out of its DCs and into its customers homes. I worked at HQ for almost two years and had a good time most of the time. But the old-gaurd at Hot Topic, those that have been working there for many years aren't the kindest people and workplace harassment and verbal abuse is not only tolerated at Hot Topic but also goes unaddressed and unresolved. If you have friends in high-places at Hot Topic, you can expect to be promoted quickly and frequently. Nevermind qualifications and experience, if you are best buds with the CEO you can get a VP position. If you apply on their website you hardly get a call, the easiest way in is to know someone who can put in 
a good word with HR. 

Don't expect the leadership to communicate, you are told what to do and not to deviate, there is no room for personal or professional growth. The leadership would rather hire more and more consultants to remedy its massive problems rather than to hire good people. The best and brightest at Hot Topic have either been forced out or have left, with the executives preferring to have the blind leading the blind and mute. The company has not made bonus since Q4 2016 and is nowhere near close making bonus in the coming year(s). Hot Topic doesn't care about it's employees and does not give as much as a 2% christmas bonus even though when they extend you an offer, they tease the possibility of a 10% annual bonus which nobody sees anymore. There is a toxic work culture that stifles individuals and demands 10-12 hour work days for understaffed and over extended departments. With retail performing as poorly as it has in 2017, and Hot Topic's poor hiring and management practices, you can expect layoffs and store closures to be the norm in 2018.

When you have a manager that genuinely cares, wants the best for their team, and actually cares about their job, you get a superstar team with amazing people and a very relaxed work environment. I am so grateful to have had a manager like the one I did. He taught me an extraordinary amount of skills that will help me in my career carrying into adulthood. Not only was he outstanding as a professional and employer, but also as a friend. I feel this is extremely important to guarantee a positive and enjoyable work environment. He is patient, understanding, reliable, and well spoken. He also has superb recommendations on how to work your sales pitches and is always looking to guide the team in a positive direction for the company.  The work itself is fairly straightforward, but very heavy on sales. If you have serious social anxiety or it drains you to constantly try and upsell people, I’d advise you to consider not working here as you’ll need to be speaking with many customers, asking them questions, and selling! This job is great if you’re looking to learn some very valuable skills in the work field such as communication, learning Point of Sale systems, t-shirt folding (lol), organization, the ins and outs of company management, and selling, but I would not recommend it long term as it can become very draining and tiresome quickly in the higher positions. Unless you’re down for that, but it is definitely not for everyone. The repetition can become mundane, but leaving your team will be the hardest part. For the amount of work you do, I do not feel the pay is justified. Also, you are scheduled on a week by week basis , and this heavily relies on the amount of sales you make if you’re a sales associate. Because of this, the environment has the ability to become competitive. Be wary of stores that have way too many employees, as you’ll most likely get very few hours. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Associate manager 540 salaries reported	$18.75 per hour
Retail assistant manager 250 salaries reported	$17.34 per hour
Sales associate 295 salaries reported	$16.24 per hour
Store manager 141 salaries reported	$26.02 per hour
Seasonal associate 174 salaries reported	$15.63 per hour

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