pharmacy assistant

pharmacist

Shoppers Drug Mart

As I am a Front Store Supervisor, I have the responsibilities of handling cash, employees and customers as efficiently as possible. I am required to maintain Shopper's Drug Mart brand image as well as ensure customer satisfaction. 

Throughout the day, I have the duties of keeping up with price corrections, making sure the cashiers have a continuous amount of responsibilities to maintain the appearance of the front of the store. I am also required to report back to the Cash Supervisor and Assistant Manager about questions, comments and concerns from both employees and customer. 

It is important to try and keep staff engaged with their work, as it can be tiresome and repetitive at times. If I notice employees are not content with their shift, I do my best to relieve them, consisting of breaks, or allowing them to work in a different section temporarily if timing allows for it. 

I genuinely enjoy coming to work as we are a smaller store, the staff feels like family and it is very pleasing to walk in and feel an "at home" environment. As well customer satisfaction is my priority, so watching a customer walk out of the store with a content feeling allows me to feel I have added value to Shopper's Drug Mart culture.

Working at Shoppers Drug Mart as a Beauty Manager is incredibly frustrating and unsustainable. You’re expected to do everything—scheduling, planograms, ordering, inventory, shrink, paperwork, events, sales, customer service, and team motivation—yet you’re given no hours and no support from front store manager or associate. 

The expectations placed on the role do not match the resources provided. Cosmetics is treated as an afterthought even though it’s a major driver of sales and customer loyalty. Being held accountable for results without being given the tools, time, or staffing to succeed sets managers up for burnout and failure. 

Shoppers needs to seriously reassess how the Beauty department is supported. A role cannot be expected to function at a high level when it’s stretched  this thin.  

Head office should direct all front store managers to give a minimum of 15 hours weekly for merchandising hours. There are many front store managers that offer no support to the running of the cosmetic department. 

Good fellow staff . Corporately controlled environment although privately owned. Strict dress codes, very marginal room for personal tastes. Some operational systems need updating,not limited to but including an on-sales-floor tracking system/software for locating stock in transit. Stores need better signage system - Stick on tags would benefit from label covers to improve longevity and selectively printing off only sales tags needed would improve the high amount of wasted signage. Corporate and store management would also benefit from seeking employee input. Wage is comparable to the current retail job market. More flexible scheduling (shorter and varied shifts) would be helpful for those in school and those whom cannot work until midnight or some of the very late hours that Shoppers is open. Reasonable store cleanliness. Regular security staff needed at this particular location. Expired stock auditing would be a good practice at this store.

At first I enjoyed my part time there very much, good team and colleagues, good benefits (gratis) and store discount but low pay, but slowly it drained the energy out of me as my manager asked me to come in a lot on my days off regardless of my studies and work/life balance (finishing at midnight and asking me to come in the morning, changing my schedule) I was promised a raise after 3 month probation but to my surprise it was cents more, same after a year. 
It was a lot of trouble asking for any type of vacation and manager was bitter and mad at me for months for 2 weeks off to see my family in another country.
Otherwise I did learn a lot on the job, inventory, organizing displays according to store policies, training new cosmeticians, managing responsibilities (cash, cleaning, products stocking and facing, etc)


enjoyed my retail experiences with Shopper drug mart as assistant cosmetic manager, Yes Rocher Spa,bath and body boutique as store director and cosmetic counter manager at the Elizabth Arden counter of the Hudson Bay Company.

With each of the positions they offered many challenges with in each enviroment.It was always a busy day filled with lots to do,from book keeping,profit and loss, banking,pay roll,ordering in store merchandise and profit and loss.
Reaching concurrant deadlines with store objectives was exciting and multi tasking ways to achieve the store target,The team is also very important and being a team leader with a strong work ethic to motivate the team in a fun positive and energic mannor

I have met many wonderful sales associates and coached and trained new managers to excell with their retail poaitions.
.

Your typical 4,6, or 8-hr shift will consist of facing shelves, stocking different products, or working the cash register. You will get shifted around based on your performance doing specific tasks. The unfortunate thing with this particular store is nepotism. Multiple employees are treated differently due to having relations with the store owner, manager a pharmacist, etc. Their needs will be prioritized above your own and if you don't like it, you have no choice, but to leave. It has been brought up to HR multiple times. Nothing gets done about it and you're usually silenced and neutered for speaking up.

I worked at Shoppers Drug Mart, and my experience was pretty average—nothing particularly bad or amazing. The job itself was straightforward, with typical retail responsibilities like stocking shelves, assisting customers, and working the cash register.

Management and coworkers were generally fine, and the work environment was what you'd expect in a retail setting. The shifts were manageable, and scheduling was decent, though sometimes a bit unpredictable. Pay was standard for retail, and there weren’t many standout perks beyond the employee discount.

Overall, it was a normal job—nothing too stressful, but nothing exceptional either. If you're looking for a stable retail position with no major surprises, Shoppers is a solid option.

All of my stores manger / supervisors are gifted in many different valuable ways. Our store manger is highly qualified and invested in the work. Customer service is a big part which can be super rewarding but at time difficult especially during the stores closing. And sometimes stressful however I have A team and colleagues I can count on during this situations that can be super difficult. My big advice is not be team player and he in it for the learning opportunities and great benefits which are endless. Money should not be your motivating goal, but during recessions this is reasonable in this type of Corporation. Full time hours won’t be handed to you just like that either. Overall it’s great. 

Shoppers Drug Mart was a nice place to work at because of the friendly environment and generally busy days making sure I was working. Manager was distant but everyone else was happy to help me smooth into my role and give me instructions and tips. Learning wasn't everyday but once in a while they would change things for a day or two to teach me something new. Additionally they had chips in their back room. you couldn't take them out of the store but they were good to eat when my shift was over. The only problem was I had was the feeling of a pattern when there wasn't anything new to teach me, exaggerated by being assigned the same few aisles to face every day.

Honestly its a good place to work at if you are just starting out. But some days it can be really bad. Like when we had only 3 blue shirt staff working during the busiest day of the week.

Also since it's a minimum wage job you'd meet a whole variety of people. Some can be an absolute pleasure to work with, but some can be absolutely insufferable. Like the ones who talks incessantly about politics and the ones who don't shower + put on deodorant before coming to work.  

Other than that, the compensation is subpar, and did not increase much at all, even though my manager told me I was an exceptional performer, during our annual performance review. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Pharmacy assistant 1 salary reported	$22.27 per hour
Pharmacist 1 salary reported	$67.50 per hour

Working at Shoppers Drug Mart: Company Overview and Reviews

Shoppers Drug Mart

Shoppers Drug Mart Ratings

Popular jobs at Shoppers Drug Mart

Salary Satisfaction

Job Seeker Tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected