retail assistant manager

retail sales associate

store manager

sales associate

retail store manager

Shoe Dept.Encore

The most enjoyable part of the job was getting to display the store's products in various creative ways in order to catch customers' attention. The staff is generally decent to work with depending on location, and general management works pretty hard to meet corporate guidelines and standards, with minimal interference or support from their supervisors. The entire company seems to suffer from a trickle-down lack of structure or accountability that the individual stores have to pay for in blood, sweat, tears, revolving employment, and terminations.

Employee discounts are pitiful unless you somehow manage to retain your job long enough to move up to district manager if/when a position opens up and the seniority queue lands on you. Employees working less than 32 hours are not offered benefits or paid-time off of any kind, and payroll allowances are so small for managers that most employees will not be provided with full-time hours anyways. 

There is no company-wide training structure of any kind except for a few outdated printouts, so each new employee is subject to whatever their training associate knows or deems worthy of knowing, which in-turn effects how well the store performs as a whole, and causes undo stress on the staff.

This is a great first job, or something to hold you over for a few months, but it's not for people who expect or desire structure and professionalism from an employer. Don't expect support or loyalty- they will ignore their responsibility to you, lead you on with empty promises of reparation, then conveniently forget to keep their word until it affects your ability to perform their expectations of you. This can go on for months on their end, yet they will not hesitate to get rid of you the moment it affects the district manager, no questions asked, no accountability taken for their misconduct.

Very low paying company particularly for assistant management positions.  It is low end hourly plus very low commission that is hard to even obtain due to being occupied most days with duties outside from sales.  You are basically engrossed with processing and merchandising truck deliveries 3 of your 5 days a week with another day involved in price changes, inventory, transfers, etc.  At best you might have one evening shift to attend to customers to make some commissioned money.  The current location I am working at has very poor management from store level through District Management unlike I have ever seen   Schedules are not posted in timely manner, are frequently changed without notice, and I see violation after violation of company policy as I was initially taught it and have read it to be.   The sales associates are primarily kids in school with poor work ethics and lacking interest in real honest work  The management team feels compelled to promote this by giving sales to associates to increase their commissioned earning without them having to actually work for it  There is a tremendous amount of physical labor to include lifting heavy boxes, climbing ladders, shifting or relocating merchandise from one area to another box by box.

A typical day starts off with you coming in, clocking in,[ naturally ] and walking and or picking up the store. You learn about shoes, the different styles and brands, as well as learning how to fashion coordinate. you also learn how to organize shoes between style and brand, as well as putting in new shoes in limited space, you learn how to think logically, methodically, and analytically, you also learn how to keep your composure while dealing with difficult and sometimes borderline hostile customer. the managers will ask you to do things you either forgot to do or something new all together. the managers are kind, understanding, knowledgeable, and firm at the same time. the workplace culture is pretty much like any other shoe store. the most enjoyable part of the job is 1 when you have a great 2 weeks where you sold your butt of and you see how much you made on your check, the 2nd thing is when you work with someone you actually like working with. the hardest part is when your learning how to put the shoes in where their supposed to go and don't have the room.

A typical day at work at The Shoe Dept Encore your always on your feet. Your either helping customers or your making sure everything in the store is picked up & nice looking. Displays are always set up, shipment is always out its up to the employees to make sure you can fit everything into the bins. Management was great, easy to talk & would always help you if you have any questions. Co-workers are wonderful, they're friendly & everybody always got along. The hardest part about the job would probably having to find the shoes in the stock room (especially if your new) if the stock room is clean and the shoes are all together then it isn't too hard. The most enjoyable part I ever had working at The Shoe Dept Encore is working in the kids section. I have daughter of my own but I always loved measuring the children's feet and helping the children and their parents find the shoes they were looking for & maybe even more then just one pair !

I’ve been working here for a long time and there is really no room for advancement unless you’ve been there for like 10+ years and the pay for management is not what’d you’d expect. Can’t really make a living off of $8-10 dollars an hour. The only good thing about working here had to be the flexibility in scheduling and the store manager, other than that you don’t get benefits UNLESS you work an average of 30+ Hours every weeks and with how slow retail sales have been, You know there’s barely hours to give, So benefits are a big no no. If you are a teenager 18+ looking for a job this is a job for you but for an adult trying to make a living a sales associate, key holder or assistant management position is not beneficial for you. The real money is made at the top and advancement is hard to get in this company! Also I forgot to mention sales associates and keyholders work on commission so if the store is not selling You are NOT making money.

I spent 4 years working for Shoe Department and I absolutely loved my job here but what I learned is that they are one of these companies who promote who they want, when they want. And it doesn't matter how much experience or education you have, they will give the job to their friend. And that is a shame. It's a who you know gets you there kind of company and the people up in North Carolina should pay attention to that. When you have a 3 million dollar a year store that only was losing about 1500 in inventory go to losing 30,000 a year in inventory, consecutive times, and absolutely nobody pays attention to that fact, there is a problem. And the problem is that the district manager and the manager she put in charge to lose so much, are best friends. People cannot properly perform their job functions in these positions. That is why so many other companies prohibit close personal relationships between management.


A typical day as a keyholder involved going in, getting the store ready for opening. Then there’s typically always something to do whether it’s working on shipment, straightening the store, transferring shoes to another store, etc. It’s a job where you can always find something to do. There are many responsibilities to keep up on. Some days are more relaxed, some are busier. Typically due to payroll cuts, we have to work alone now. Corporate wants all employees to provide hands-on customer service and really engage with them, and practically beg people to buy our shoes, but they pay a non-livable wage and cannot provide enough hours for us to work. The manager is great, he tries to do what he can to give us hours. But unfortunately it’s all up to corporate. 

Working the job is fairly simple, grab shoes, cash out customers etc. but unfortunately there is ALOT of favoritism. If you are not a favorite of the store manager or district manager expect to have your hours cut to almost non existent. The corporate doesn't care about the employees. There is no work life balance sadly, they'll tolerate it for a few but expect a lot of talk behind your back. 
The employees are decent for the most part but don't get on anyone's bad side. There is a 20% discount for full time employees, insurance but the first week you don't get 35 hours the company is quick to attempt to cancel the plan, even if the store manager doesn't schedule you full time . Like all retail customers are somewhat difficult, but not horrible, most times they are understanding. The store will be understaffed frequently! So you'll be asked to do the work of three people. 

Typical day.. drama, no organization, rude customer customers come in make a mess with shoe boxes, let their kids run through the store, take shoes out of boxes, walk in them, don't put them back. Had a customer  come in and attack one of the sale associate and left bruises, nail marks on her arm where it drew blood. Manager, district managers said I am off, on vacation don't bother me, tell someone eles.Management would yell at her employee's if did anything wrong yell, correct them in front of customer,other management like district managers they didn't come in on a regular basis to check out their store, if the manager is off don't bother them, it can wait til the next day when they work, the job is not hard at all. Enjoyable part is when it was a slow day, customers are nice, not attacking you. To be honest the show dept is not a good place to work at, they won't give u raises and it is the lowest paying job. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
Very busy store.    When an order came in it was busy checking in and placing the order on the floor to work into the wall of shoes.  I learned a lot there.  Had fun there but worked late many nights cleaning up the store.   

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Having to work late to clean up the store and put am the shipment away properly.  

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
It was a friendly place met many people.     

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Clock in and take your section to clean and help customers.   Not all the shoes had the pairs together.   The left shoes were in the back room.    Constant cleaning and waiting on customers.   And ringing out your customer for credit for taking care of them for extra pay but they got rid of that and instead gave everyone a raise instead.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Retail assistant manager 31 salaries reported	$13.10 per hour
Retail sales associate 17 salaries reported	$10.22 per hour
Store manager 5 salaries reported	$18.40 per hour
Sales associate 9 salaries reported	$9.06 per hour
Retail store manager 1 salary reported	$53,394 per year

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