sales associate

responsable de magasin

assistant manager

center manager

stocking associate

SoftMoc

Firstly I would like to say I am grateful for the experiences I had at softmoc, I started out part time, worked my way up to being an assistant manager then to being a store manager. 

You get a store discount which can be used online as well (40% off and 20% for friends and family), paid breaks. 

As a part timer its easy, its customer service within itself, you make your day, commission based so there were perks when wanting to make a little bit more money. 

As an assistant manager its also fairly easy, you’re in charge when the manager isn’t there (2 days out of the week) you help open stock, process orders, more customer service etc you make bonuses if you beat certain goals but it had to be a group effort from the entire team. 

As a store manager im still surprised I lasted 3 years because the amount of times I was ready to throw in the towel. I lost my work/life balance, felt almost as if 90% of the time I was living, breathing everything softmoc. Sometimes I never took a break because there was so much work that needed to be done. Got to the point sometimes I had dreams about the store. You get minimal support from your higher ups, what my DM used to tell me is “the less you see me the better” so with that taken into consideration I felt like I was doing a good job. If I needed help sometimes it felt like I couldn’t reach out to my DM because I didn’t want to be a bother, so with that I would have to reach out to other stores. 
Sometimes you’re understaffed and it takes almost 3 weeks just for higher ups to put an ad on indeed. It got to a point where I myself had to ask around if anyone was looking for jobs. 
The amount of work you do as a store manager does not correlate with how much you get paid. Depending on your numbers and how well your store does with achieving bonuses, its not always a pretty paycheque. Found out sometimes some part timers would be making just a little more less than what I was making because they were constantly on the floor selling, meanwhile I was trying to get the backroom organized and up to standards. 
I loved my staff, and it was so hard saying goodbye to them because they had become my second family. I was moving to Manitoba to begin school but I needed a job out there to begin with, so I decided to transfer to the Polo park location as a Senior Assistant manager. (its literally just an assistant manager, but paid almost the same only difference is probably $100) but you have more access to do things than just a regular assistant. With that being said, I absolutely adored all of the part timers expect for 1— the other assistant was a hit or miss sometimes, but the store manager was very standoff ish. I would try to make conversation but it ended after 45 seconds. the particular part timer and store manager were close, which arguably caused a unwelcoming feeling from the both of them whenever I worked with them and I worked with them probably 3/5 days I was there and I absolutely hated it. The only time I did enjoy working there was if both the store manager and the other part timer wasn't working. It is a very toxic work environment, almost felt like highschool I had never experienced anything like it. it made me hate going to work. It got to the point where I told the DM if something does that get changed within the next 2 days I was leaving. Of course during the 2 days I had given him work was intolerable. And I had come to the conclusion that my time at Softmoc was up, I wanted out really badly. And so— I put in my two weeks notice. Quite honestly I felt like I just wanted to drop my keys and leave without any notice but of course the store manager in me felt bad so I did two weeks. 

It was a very mean girl vibe. Stories other part timers would tell me about what the Store manager, assistant manager and part timer would do to other part timers had me in shock to see them still working for this company. The reason why so many people had left was because of those 3 girls. UNBELIEVABLE !! 

All in all, Softmoc wasn’t necessarily a bad experience for me, it gave me tools and knowledge I can take with me throughout the rest of my life. Gave me experiences I would have never thought I could do. It challenged me (in a good way sometimes) If i could do it all again, I would— WITH some changes of course. 


This company is run by a 1960's 'boys club'. Super egotistical and arrogant bunch of men. They have a tunnel vision mentality. Has one idea, runs with it into traffic without working out the kinks, and wonders why it didn't work out. Then when everything goes haywire, they're the first to lose it on you, and demean you for them not listening to your advice in the first place. A large percent of what goes wrong could have been avoided to begin with, if they were the type of employer who valued employee contributions of any means.
Blind leading the blind here.

I cannot express this enough....

Upper management does not care about you.

READ THAT AGAIN.

They only care about making money and pocketing it for themselves. Or you know...sending the money to Papa Krista in the Bahamas. (If you know, you know). Verbal, p & s abuse is a 'know of, but don't speak of' policy here. Upper management will either turn a blind eye to matters of safety of their workers in hopes it will magically disappear - OR - they completely demean their hard working staff. Your mental health will diminish here- fast. Oh, and don't worry if you're not the brightest in the bunch. Head office is located right smack dab on the border between Whitby & Oshawa...so be prepared to work with A LOT of uneducated, ignorant, trashy people*. (*An embarrassing percentage of these people are located in the Customer Service Dept. Sorry not sorry... it's truth). 

Softmoc will employ anyone who's desperate enough to work for a consistent income & benefits. Don't expect to be paid a wage you can live on either. Proper pay doesn't happen unless you're a female who likes to do 'favours' behind closed doors (be creative), or you're a man. Also - let me be clear.... Store workers and Customer Service are paid lower hourly rates, but in the end you get paid more then a head office worker!! (I've worked in both positions, can confirm true). COMMISSION IS EVERYTHING. So don't be discouraged about previous reviews, just know how to sell and you're laughing. Although again, it won't be enough to pay ALL the bills...if you catch my drift.

The combination of low pay, having someone bark orders at you, and little to no acknowledgement for work being completed, or someone else taking your credit - causes mass resentment amongst co-workers. You can cut the air with a butter knife it's that thick with tension. However, everyone tends to put a good ol'fake smile and talk trash about you amongst others over coffee in the lunch room. The Softmoc lunchroom is a whole other mood. It has a High School vibe check in itself. But I suppose it comes hand in hand with the people they choose to employ...

Word of advice?
This job has sky-high expectations with little to no benefit for yourself.
You can find better, TRUST ME.

I was excited when I first came
to this company. I was one of many people who opened and launched the new Softmoc Shoe Rack in Toronto. I had a wonderful team that any manager could ever dream of. But as time went on asking how to do certain things and what was number one priority. If it wasn’t done on time this district manager who was so mean, unprofessional, rude and everything else you can call him barley gave minimal support and training. He would show my assistant managers and myself once and except us to know it just like that. Company focus on getting shoes out via online and to other store more Instead of putting them away, So back room is overall flowing with stock. Company doesn’t provide you with enough store hours to schedule staff in to help with stock or customers because company is to cheap.Customers would complain when we only have  myself and one staff at time working in the mornings. When  you do ask for hours district manager gives you hardly any hours to get tasks done. I have been with company for over 4 months now and yet to see companies policies and benefits. Wages below minimum per hour. Hire management covers up for district mangers on how inappropriate and unprofessional they are. My opinion they are afraid because district Manger is a bully. Company relies on scaring mangers and staff in order to get things done. So you constantly worried things won’t get done on a timely manner. They think that this can get you motivated to get your daily tasks done. You come in to work on you days off when it’s suppose to be your district manager because his excuse is I’m out and about. District manager at one of Toronto locations doesn’t even care about your safety and well being. Staff calls you constantly even when your on vacation because they can’t get a hold of district manger. So of course you have to deal with it. I got physically sick and mentally stressed which lead me to having constant anxiety and panic attacks going into work. This is all due to poor management and company.

- Worked in customer care at head office for almost two months and was let go with zero explanation and no prior discussion. The entire time the sups and managers told me I was doing a great job so this made absolutely no sense. I was warned by other employees that they are pretty fire-happy and it can come out of nowhere, so I didn’t feel secure and started looking for other jobs, so luckily I had some backup opportunities by the time this happened. I was also warned that the sups and managers are super fake but I tried to ignore that. Clearly, it’s true. 

-Super high turnover…nobody has been there for more than about a year. 

- Customer care reps have very little accessibility to do anything for the customers so are constantly having to ask for assistance from higher ups for the most simple things, such as update an email address for example or view a gift card transaction history. All of this just wastes the customer’s time and the company’s time.  

-Some of their policies for their customers are ridiculous and you feel stupid having to explain it to the customers and feel so bad for them.

-The sups and managers sometimes make you feel like you’re a nuisance for asking for assistance, even if it’s something you literally have no ability to do because reps are so restricted. There are also way more sups and managers than actual reps, and some of them have specific designations and it can be so confusing trying to figure out which one to contact for a specific type of issue. 

-You are expected to take calls and chats simultaneously and have several windows open on two monitors where you are dealing with multiple customers and their information. They will be on you to take chats even if you’re already in several and on the phones simultaneously. Even the best multitasker might find this challenging. 

Started part time got promoted after about 3 yrs, worked here for almost 4yrs in total. Management gave little to no explanation about how things work, seems to rely on you to figure things out. Working part-time you can probably get by here if you are fine with minimum wage, but Softmoc provides little to no compensation for your loyalty and hard work. You could work here for 5 years and  they wouldn't even let you know you are eligible for a raise, you have to figure it out yourself but it can be quite hard to know what you can or can't do when they don't give you proper training or an updated and official copy of their training module, or if you don't have good standing with the higher ups. Since the pay is not so good and the stress is high from dealing with different kinds of people day to day, not much people want to keep the job, a lot of us stayed because we respected our coworkers, but naturally people find better places to be. It was rough to see your coworkers get payed so little for the work they do tho. So there was always a problem with being understaffed. But we barely felt the support from the higher ups, in fact it felt like they didn't care and just want us to "deal with it". People were told to work despite having only 3 people who can work for a week because the others are sick with covid, but who would want to work like that, especially if you know you are at high risk of getting the virus yourself and the possibility that you could also be infectious already. I've never felt so disrespected in my life. Terrible place, only stayed because I made some good friends in my coworkers, you can really form tight bonds in tough times. 

Here, you can be assured that your job title is what you'll be. You don't have to be a "sales associate" than can lift 50 pounds so they can randomly put you on stock duty one day while still paying you your sales wages. If you are in sales, you are on the floor, and your priority is the customer.

I was in sales and trained well. I would say to pay the most attention to shoe care, as that's what you'll mention the most to customers. The manager is very nice and well to get along with, as well as the assistant managers, keyholders, and coworkers. I found stock is always moving around, so I was sure to get a walk around the store at the beginning of my shift.

In all, the atmosphere was like any other retail store, however I found the customers were generally nicer. Of course you get the rude ones, but I think people just appreciate your running around more when the store is more open and organized.

Easily the hardest part is getting your numbers up to snuff and getting them to stay there. You have to ask for an email and if not, a phone number. Usually people are okay with it, as it earns them points toward money off shoes and keeps them under a year warranty with the store, but sometimes I get the customer that's adamant about it, and that's fine. But keep in mind that you will get talked to about it and lose hours if you're consistently below a certain average.

Pay is nice, plus commission. You get paid for your work and are not expected to go out of your pay grade. Of course, one break like other retail stores. You get a nice staff discount, as well as a friends and family discount.

All in all, it's a fine store if you find a good manager and coworkers.

This job is not the hardest it's basic retail. The issue comes for management and location. This store is located in a outlet mall that is very Touristy, In my experience this made it so customers tended to be ruder, have unrealistic standards and would cross boundaries very often. For management the issue seemed to be from store level to the top. The rules are very dependent on who you are and if management likes you at the time. An example would be If you call in sick your hours get cut and you start to get dress coded. They will also push what legal, examples of this is you would be forced to pay out of your own pocket if the till was off, management would decide who they thought was guilty this (they had no way of ever knowing for sure) it could be just a few cents to $20+(one girl was Forced to go to an atm) they will also ask for sick notes whitch is not allowed in ontario as of recent. The pay is also questionable you get payed below minimum wage with 1% commissions. The gossip in this store is also out of control, it's past just little comments and management took part in it often leading it. They loved to compare who "I have had this happen, whitch is so much worse so I don't know why they would call in". I was with this store for longer than I should of been and it effected my mental health greatly. If you decide to work here document everything especially you if you have a disability. Retail should not of been this hard 
P.S ask for copies of everything you Sign because you will never see it again.


The SoftMoc Shoerack location at which I worked had several problems. I believe the issue began with head office sending the location too much product (product that wouldn’t sell, btw), and the location itself simply not having adequate space to store it all.

The main person in charge of the store (though having lots of seniority and great credentials on paper) had poor skills in terms of people management and scheduling.

Towards the end, I was routinely required to work outside of my job description with next to zero training, and without equal pay (I was not hired as a customer service rep, had to work as CS rep anyways and was refused CS commission). I question the legality of that situation, as I have fair evidence to support that equal work should have resulted in equal pay. 

The work was unrewarding, unfulfilling, and the culture was toxic. 

I found it funny that when I was studying, I was still able to provide 4 days a week of availability. I was told that it wasn’t enough. Then during the summer when my availability was completely open, my hours shrank from 25-30 per week to 4 per week. Four hours per week. I’m not kidding, I can prove it.
The decline of hours was the most upsetting thing, as it is unfair to mess with an employees income like that. Employees rely on that income for their basic needs, and reducing my income as drastically as they did caused me much undeserved stress.

Aside from that, my coworkers were great (excluding the boss). 

I don’t know where to begin with this nightmare! I was very excited to start out and learn about shoes but I quickly realized how awful SoftMoc is. First of all, SoftMoc has the most toxic work environment ever. Everyone else who works there has been there for a long time and they have developed a clique-like attitude. They don’t like anyone new and they are definitely the opposite of welcoming! It felt like being in high school all over again. The only people who were decent were the younger part time employees. The pay is a joke! I was an assistant manager and I was getting paid less than the part timers. The pay is base pay plus commission. My base pay as an assistant manager was $11 an hour. That means I was just making $14 an hour after commission and everything which is ridiculous for someone who’s working 40+ hours a week and is supposed to be part of the management team! The head office is also ridiculous. All they care about is changing the store around every week because they can’t decide how they want everything on the floor. The DM barely visits. When she does, she tells us everything she is going to do to fix up the store and assist her team but then doesn’t do any of it and doesn’t show up again until months down the road. The back room is a death trap with stock piling up everywhere even though they have a stock person (finally) who does as much as she is able. If you value your mental health and integrity, do not apply to SoftMoc.

When I started at this job I thought that it was an awesome job and I was gonna be there for a long time. I thought that management and the team were amazing when I started… BOY WAS I WRONG only one person on the management team was nice and she was the assistant manager the manager was more focused on taking personal calls as well as not being on the floor. They would say that the part-time people came first whereas that was not seen. I had gone to management about customers who were bad talking other staff with the staff member who was being talked about and when management went to the floor they talked to the person and took the customers side when they were saying such rude and degrading things about the staff member. 

Management will leave and just go shopping mid-shift leaving the team alone to deal with any issues that may arise. Rules will be sent to the team group chat and not enforced but then management will badly talk the team member who’s been not following the rules, but they will never talk to the team member who is causing issues. Top Management will constantly talk badly about the team and is highly rude to team members of colour. When top management is told that you scared of them they are happy about this and that’s just completely confusing since your team should wanna talk to you about any issues that may be going on. 

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Sales associate 118 salaries reported	$17.59 per hour
Responsable de magasin 4 salaries reported	$19.50 per hour
Assistant manager 48 salaries reported	$19.33 per hour
Center manager 30 salaries reported	$19.59 per hour
Stocking associate 34 salaries reported	$16.52 per hour

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