co-manager

sales associate

assistant manager

supervisor

store manager

Designer Brands Inc.

All they care about is selling. Their idea of ‘great customer service’ is extremely off-putting to actual customers - people don’t want to be greeted 4-5 times in one visit but we HAVE to do it as part of their ‘here for you’ training. Customers just want to shop, if they want help they’ll ask but no, employees MUST pester customers at every chance to SELL SELL SELL! I’ve never felt so restricted in what I can do to ACTUALLY help customers; if we don’t have their size we have to tell them ‘we can order it’ and they can wait 5-7 days and pay before trying on, instead of letting them know that the other location down the road carries what they need (which is more convenient for the customer and much appreciated) because we MUST RETAIN SALES IN OUR STORE.  We can’t even call another location and put an item on hold for them because apparently that takes one person away from the sales floor for ‘too long’ aka they lose 5-10mins of potential SELLING TIME. The overall selection of shoes is poor, missing major on-trend brands and styles - instead carrying very average, boring ugly styles. Even the few popular brands they carry like Nike, Adidas, Vans, UGGs are extremely limited and lacking the specific on-trend styles. The dress code for female staff is ridiculous while the guys get to wear whatever they want. You can’t have your water bottle with you, instead it must stay in a locked room in the back which means if you work short shifts without a break, you can’t drink anything all shift. I thought this would be a pretty relaxed mall job that I could do for supplemental income as a student, but the amount of stress just isn’t worth it. You’re watched like a hawk to ensure you hound customers constantly, and you cannot stop moving. There’s constant pacing and mindless straightening of display shoes for hours on end. New staff get stuck on the same section of the sales floor every single shift for about a month. When you finally get trained on cash you have to force customers to sign up for the rewards program by asking them 4 times before accepting a No (again, great customer service) Nobody really seems to enjoy working there excect the overly cheery manager who lives in a shoe bubble closed off from reality. I’m currently looking for a new job so I can leave this soul sucking pit of misery.

I was hired as a store manager for this company. My training was pathetic, the first week was a bit of product knowledge, and store routines, the second week I was used as a cashier so the  "training manager" could work on her snake flow.  I was then placed in my store while the existing store manager was still there, and bitter to be leaving, so that was very uncomfortable.  I then took over this completely broken store. I had to hire all new staff, so at that point everyone in the store was brand new, during their busiest time of the year. The DM was pretty new, very disingenuous, and either had no idea about the condition of the store or was dishonest about it when she hired me. At first she said that we just needed to get through bts and then we would worry about getting the store cleaned up and the standards in place, but then she found out that there would be a corporate visit. Two weeks into my time in the store she told me that I had to have the entire store 95% cleaned up and all standards in place by her visit the following week. We did try, but with it being back to school, everytime we would get a section completed it would get completely destroyed again, and with all new staff, they were not trained on the standards, because there wasn't time to do so. There was also a huge focus on the rewards program, the expectation was 70% and anytime it would drop I would be told that I needed to take over on cash to get the score back up,  so with that said, it is impossible to clean up a store from the cash desk. I was let go exactly one month after taking over the store, I did not see it coming at all.  I wasn't even given the opportunity to get the store cleaned up and running properly. I caution anyone considering  a job with this company, clearly to these people all managers and staff are just to be thrown away on a whim.

Poor upper management. Very high expectations for the tasks at hand with the massive payroll cuts. My store was cut hard, despite being one of the highest volume stores in BC. Challenging  to keep up to the enormous shipments, promo changes every weekend, tagging, merchandizing, condensing, web orders, etc .. Despite everyone being completely burnt out... Despite the unrealistic sales targets, if you don't make target, your store will be cut hours the following week. Which creates MORE stress for everyone in the store. Part timers leaving because they cant get hours, and management burning out due to lack of payroll hours and increased workload.

If you want a thankless stressful job, that pays terrible.. Go for it. But seriously.. There is a VERY GOOD REASON why Shoe Warehouse and Shoe Company are ALWAYS hiring. 

High turnover is the norm in this company.. Perhaps if they respected and paid their associates better, then they would retain more of their hires

The particular store I was in, was toxic. Mall is close to a tent city, mall management/mall security do next to nothing to keep retailers safe. Having to deal with dangerous crackheads and junkies every 15 minutes is hard on everyone.

Just keep scrolling! There's much better out there!

A typical day at work: Go to the back, grab a headset, your name badge and clock in. Once you've clocked in you report to the manager on duty. The MOD will tell you what section of the store you have. So for your eight hour shift you walk up and down the same four aisles asking customers for help. 
What I learned from working this job over two months is that people are rude. I learned that you can't make everyone happy, you can't help everyone(as much as your manager will tell you that you can, you can't). I learned that you shouldn't take a job that you will not end up liking a couple months down the road. 
Management was iffy. Some managers were absolutely fantastic and others, not so much. The good managers made the eight hours of walking around seem like an hour. The other managers made it very difficult to work there. Racist comments to some employees made it very hard for me to stay, because I knew things were being said and I couldn't stand up to it because I was the "new girl" and talking back could've lost me my job. Also, some managers were very pushy and had little to no trust that you were doing your job when in fact, you were. 
The co-workers I had were absolutely great. Some of the nicest individuals I have ever met. They were very down to earth people. I have gotten to know many of them on a personal level and got to talk to them outside of work. 
Hardest part of the job would definitely be pleasing the more "difficult" managers. Also, walking around for eight hours in the same section of the store. 
Most enjoyable part of the job was getting to work with some really great, hard-working individuals.

This place is a trap, you live like in a cold war strategy over there everyone is trying to save their back. There is no chance of growth, if you decided to do a good job, it against you because now it’s your responsibility and you get triple the tasks than other person than made same or more than you. Some associates are very rude, authoritative, and uncooperative, and there is no actions against them. Managers never help with any problems they always direct to some other managers and which never resolves any issues. Minimum wage job and really stressful. The head office expects a lot from the associates and never wants to be grateful from within, but don’t worry you get chocolates for Christmas. 
Management doesn't communicate and the things that they communicate are not well understand so the associates are being pulled back and forth. Management pick and choose which rules they want to follow so many times is very confusing. Always shortage of staff and many times they force you to help on other locations. All day they request associates to come into work, last minute, but also when is slow they cut your hours last minute.
No safety protocols followed in this pandemic. 
If you complain nothing is done, they just make you pass for horrible investigation with no results. This job will drain you mentally until you get health issues. I wouldn't recommend anyone to work here. 

First we call our customers shoe lovers which shows that each Shoelover is important in our store. A typical day at work would order fulfillment also known as web orders which I do on a daily basis when I work. Another thing I do at my workplace is help out Shoelovers and I also have three and a half years of cash and retail experience. I learned how to deal with different types of situations in a proper manner.  The management from the beginning was not good because I was always afraid to go to work because I did not know what to expect or if they would yell at me for no reason but now the management is amazing because the management we have now they know exactly what they are doing and they are teaching as so well. Workplace culture is perfect everyone is so nice and they help each other out which I love about the workplace. The hardest part is that there are some situations that can bring you down but you know that management will always be there to back you up no matter what. The most enjoyable part of the job is the environment and the management because they are very diverse and if you have any questions they will always be there to support.

The work you do is pretty simple most of the time I'd say. I worked at a DSW and 90% of the time was on the sales floor putting away shoes, helping customers and cleaning up messes. A lot of the time customers made huge messes which managers expected you to clean up by yourself, which was a little annoying but manageable alone. If youre looking for a job which will keep you active, id recommend this since stores are usually huge and 1 person is usually assigned to different sections of the store to work alone (ex: mens, womens, etc). You will be working on your feet a lot and sadly, there are no breaks given for employees working 4 hours or less (not even a 15 min one). I worked part time so i never got breaks which sucked. Managers also set unrealistic sales goals for slow weekdays which puts a lot of pressure on sales associates like i was. Working slow days was painful since youre basically just walking laps around the store looking for something to do. All in all not too bad if youre looking for a first job. 

My day starts off with either opening the store or coming in the afternoon for a closing shift, where i either prepare for the start of the day by handing out tasks for employees or checking in with the other management. As a supervisor my job is to watch over the employees every move and call them out on anything the company does not approve of all the while I have to stand up near the front of the store and greet every customer coming in to the store as though I am just a greeter. 

Workplace culture is great, the people are great that work there, they are fun and incredibly nice but the management brings the company down. You must be available a minimum of three shifts, morning and night plus one weekend but you will never actually get the schedule you want. 

Overall it is a decent place to work if it is just as a second job or a first time job for a teenager but long term it is boring, stressful, and there is no room for advancement.

I mostly enjoy working at DSW because the coworkers and majority of management is fantastic! I really enjoy helping customers when they need it, but dislike when customers just grunt when I ask them how they are today. I am employed at a mall location which isn't all that desirable, no one is shopping, everyone is browsing, this makes very difficult to make a lot of sales as everyone is just passing by. I have learnt how to effectively deal with customers and make sure I get exactly what they need! Managment is very nice, there is a new general/district manager who are making changes (mostly for the better), although a supervisor at my brach bullies those below her and is very specific about who she loves and strongly dislikes. The topughest part easily is there are no breaks in shifts 5 hours and less which is really taxing and you get very tired by the end of your shift. The best part of my job is my coworkers, they are very kind to each other and very welcoming at first.

This company does not even follow their own policies and get upset when associates do when customers get angry. It’s always a uphill battle as you can’t really win no matter what you do. Customer service doesn’t even support the policy so they end up sending angry customers your way telling you to deal with it. If you take this job, you are not only accepting one job but multiple with low pay and no respect. There is no real growth in the company. There is so much pressure on their Loyalty program to sign up people. You are expected to sign up people without emails which literally doesn’t make sense. You tend to get ridiculed as a store if your sign ups are low no matter how good sales are. Management tends to be oblivious to reality and puts more pressure on in-store workers. 

The only good thing is your coworkers. Hours tend to be flexible, but unfortunately this may not be the case soon.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Co-manager 54 salaries reported	$19.97 per hour
Sales associate 62 salaries reported	$17.77 per hour
Assistant manager 12 salaries reported	$21.72 per hour
Supervisor 7 salaries reported	$18.80 per hour
Store manager 3 salaries reported	$56,640 per year

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