Chapters

I worked as a seasonal employee, but it was very unorganized. It wasn’t made aware to me whether or not I was a seasonal or not. I never signed any contracts and only had one day of proper training before being thrown onto the sales floor.
I was never given a name tag, work email, or anything like that. One manager had a bit of a temper and expected new employees to know everything right off the bat, while the other manager was very calm and teaching.

It’s a very fast paced environment, you have to learn the sales floor layout and keep everything organized as you work the day, along with helping customers find things (often with very vague descriptions).
You’re expected to sell books to customers along with just helping what they want. 

Cash training was okay, pretty easy to understand. You’re expected to try and sell their membership program to customers and you’re often ranked on how well you did by how many you sold per day (which is hard, because not many people are ever interested in buying). 

Co-workers were overall very friendly and welcoming, and I made a few friends in my time working there. 

When my time came to leave, I was never told I was let go or when my end date was, I just lost access to the employee portal, and could no longer log in to anything. 

Overall, a decent experience, but it was very unorganized, and management was unresponsive and pretty rude. 

Unfortunately, Chapters Halifax is not a joyful place to work. Like others have mentioned, the atmosphere is sell Plum Plus memberships at all costs. The management treats the staff as children who constantly need reminders to bother customers at the store, and when I say constant, I mean constant. They are condescending and must not believe that the staff are able to do a good job without being on top of the staff all the time.

 The managers must be under some heavy pressure to deliver sales and new memberships because it is a very unpleasant environment where your love of books is trumped by your need to produce numbers of memberships and sales. I don't believe they are making it a fun and kind place to work, nor are they making it nice for the customers. 
I don't believe they make you aware of just how much the sales piece and membership sales are needed to be pushed by the employees. 

The Managers are having trouble seeing the forest for the trees. They are stressing their employees to the max instead of making the workplace a supportive space.

I would not recommend working here.



Days can typically start earliest at 6 am. Most shifts are typically 5 hours maybe 3-4 times a week if part time. Can get 8 hour shifts occasionally. 

Training was provided (paid) using their web module courses. Very straightforward and not a lot of rules in place. When hired, it is made known that they chose you because of your potential. Generally, just being a nice person will get you far and make the job a lot easier. Patience is key with difficult customers.

The location I landed myself at was amazing! Very orderly and the staff were sweethearts. We all have a few unpleasant coworkers, but even so they weren't too bad :)  The environment is very fast paced, especially around holiday time. Having knowledge of what's current is a good thing to have. The hardest part was definitely some of the individuals that come in. During COVID it's tough because some people will refuse to follow our safety standards, and we are aggressive with our follow through.

I learned a lot through this job in such a short time. It is definitely fast paced and you have to keep tabs on multiple things at once. 

Coworkers and management are always professional, but they make their employees feel welcomed and like an important part of the team, no matter what their status is as an employee.

The most difficult thing was keeping up with customers who do not shelve books correctly, or leave a mess in the shelving area, which also makes it harder to locate books for subsequent customers and can take away from customer service.

The most enjoyable part of the job was the sense of feeling valued and welcomed every time I walked into work, as well as the friendly demeanor that almost every customer that visits chapters has.

In terms of learning, I would say it is similar to most other retail stores in how they operate, so it provided general retail experience. Training was more extensive than many retail stores, however, and it reflects in the professionalism and skill of the employees.

A typical day at work usually started at 10:00 in the morning with a five minute catch up meeting with the manager on duty and any other staff member that was starting at the same time. Most of my shifts consisted of working on Kobo(e-reader) . My job as a Kobo rep. I made sure my station was neat and had all the appropriate product to sell. With selling Kobos' I had to up-sell products that went with it.
My managers were always around making sure my day was going well and kept us up to date as to how sales were going for the store. I worked in an atmosphere that was very much team oriented, you could usually count on other staff to give a helping hand. The most enjoyable parts of working at Chapters was every day was different and the customers were so unique and interesting to talk to. The thing I didn't like about my job was the fact that I was only part time and I would have stayed if I had the chance to get a full time position.

The job starts at 5:00am. It's a tough time to start, it's even tougher to wake up at 4:00am. It is definitely a positon for a morning person. Knowing that I was a night person meant that most mornings were a struggle, however, I was determined to get up every morning. I learned that it is integral for management to listen to the employees that are on the ground, doing the trench work. There are both capable managers that work at Chapters, and then there are those that treat employees as disposable. Which is no different from many other retailers.

I mostly enjoyed the people I worked beside. They were amazing, helpful, fun-loving, hardworking people. Despite all the changes management and head office decided to do, we all persevered, and got the job done.

Past employee here. 
The job itself is great and quite easy as long as you like talking and helping out customers! the clientele is generally very great and kind.
management at my location was not great, however. the managers as well as customer experience leader were not very kind , expected you to know wierd little quirks of the job/tasks with very minimal training. favourited employees who have been there longer and treated the new ones poorly. managers would just stand aside and talk, weren't very friendly or professional to customers, and I even heard them more than once talking badly about one of the other employees after they had made a mistake. overall great wholesome company, just not happy with the management at my location.

Indigo has strayed way too far away from being a bookstore. Working for Indigo is frustrating because there is so much emphasis put on the overpriced and poor quality lifestyle products that we are expected to push and sell to customers who have just come in to browse or buy a book. The managers don't care about you, and they change so often at the store level that it's hard for employees to care about them either. The job used to be enjoyable 3 years ago when lifestyle was first starting out and employees were just there to help instead of push products, not so much anymore.

Some of the managers are a different personality type and seem to have a hard time with grasping that employees are people too. But the General manger is the best person possible for the job, he is absolutely amazing. 

Co-workers are a bunch of overall amazing people with some pretty great personal stories and experiences. The people I work with are why working there is pretty great, the pay isn't hardly enough to live off of, but if you want to make some friends its the place to be. 

Hardest part of the job is that we let customers walk all over us when they throw the slightest fit. Customers are always right and they 98% of the time get what they want even if it is against store policies.

- A typical day started at 5 AM to set up the work hub and receive for the day. After products where put into their appropriate places the store would be cleaned up. 
- Chapters team teaches community and respect among coworkers.  It also teaches how to be effective and efficient while tackling individual responsibilities
- Management fluctuated but for the most part they were supportive, caring, and effective.
- The hardest part of the job was creating space when there was none, and organizing hundreds of products in storage.
- The most enjoyable part was the team. The team was helpful, caring, and kept each other responsible.

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