sales associate

surveillant de magasin de détail

adjoint administratif

gérant de commerce de détail

retail sales associate

Pet Valu

This is my first job (hired at 16 years old), the company so far is great, I work for a corporate store so management is quite easy and you get to know people that work in other stores quite quickly. The dynamic in the store between people that work there is quite good but you can get on the bad side of people if you aren’t holding up your responsibilities. My manager has been very supportive of me in giving me flexible hours to work and there is always something to do. During peak hours there are usually two people working but in off peak you can expect to be alone and be able to open and close without aid from someone else. You are expected to be active with customers greeting them in a timely manner and being a reliable source of information for them while also performing daily tasks.

Communication with upper management is good and they are an email away with any sort of concerns you have and communication with head office is great as well with the CEO having visited a few of the stores during the summer. There are set expectations there for how displays should be set up during each flyer period and brand standards. There have been an issue with new managers not being trained enough though so this is an issue which effects the store greatly.

Training at the start is time consuming but worth it, you become knowledgeable not just about dog and cat nutrition but specifics about certain brands and other animals as well. New modules have been added since I’ve started so there is always new information to be learned. There is also a part of the LMS that allows you to make suggestions and ask questions to the head office like if a certain product will be available soon or if a brands cans are BPA Free which is great if a customer has a question you aren’t sure about.

Since the company is made up of both franchises and corporate stores it can be difficult to help customers if something is out of stock at your store and you suggest a different location (some items are frequently out of stock in the warehouse for months at a time) which is very frustrating for the customer. 

It depends on which location you work at on how busy it will be but even though it might be slow you are still expected to achieve a certain amount of sales and certain benchmarks like multi line and dollars per transaction.

Pay is great in my opinion as minimum wage for under 18 in Alberta is 13.00$/hour and I had a starting wage of 15.25$ already over what minimum wage for adults is. There is annual performance reviews and you are eligible for a raise based on this so putting effort in daily is worth it. It has been mentioned that they are looking at putting in benefits for part time employees in for the future but as of now there is none.

There are several roles that you can take on like receiving orders, placing orders, doing paperwork, on top of basic sales but everyone is responsible for things like freshness tracking, cycle count, cleaning, etc.

The hardest part of the job is picking up slack for others that don’t do their responsibilities, in my experience management can be quite lack in reprimanding people for poor performance and it effects the team culture. I believe that although people that don’t have much experience that may be promising are great, having some people with previous retail experience makes the flow of everything better as everyone is on a different experience level rather than everyone learning stuff at once.

Work/Life Balance: if you're a store manager or district manager, there is no balance at all....Pet Valu monopolizes your time. It's not uncommon for managers and DMs to receive calls, emails and texts multiple times on their days off. Additionally, new hires are expected to complete over 40 hours of online training UNPAID and on their own time!

Salary: very low considering the expectations for store staff and managers. Manager's wages are based on store's sales, so if you have the misfortune of landing a low volume store, your wage will reflect (even though that is beyond your control and you're still do the same amount of work as someone managing a high volume store). In franchise stores the owners set the wages and this can either work in the employee’s favor or disadvantage depending on the franchisee, Head Office does not regulate franchise wages. 

Job Security/Advancement: as a company, Pet Valu rarely promotes from within, turnover is alarmingly high-even for retail- and as an employee you do not feel valued. It's a very stressful place to work because you never know from one day to the next if you will be fired. It appears great employees are terminated for no reason...often.

Management: some store managers are worried about keeping their jobs while others do a terrible job and are kept on for some bizarre reason. The management styles of store managers vary from store to store, some are more positive (usually newer managers) while others are all doom and gloom. As for district managers, they each have their own agenda and will help store managers if it 'works into their plans' (I've heard that term used countless times). If it's not to the district manager's benefit, they will not help store managers grow with the company and in store instances, will actively prevent managers from moving up. 

Training: very outdated methods, lack of in store training. The corporate recruiter has never worked in a store and creates training 'checklists' from her desk at head office. Franchise owners are given a very involved training program but it is up to them to implement the training in their stores and pass the information onto their team and often times they don’t, which leaves staff confused and unclear on the expectations and execution of tasks. 

Job Culture: unpleasant, everyone has their own agendas, a lot of gossip. If your Manager or District Manager doesn't want you to move up in the company...you won't. As mentioned previously, it's a stressful place to work because you're always looking over your shoulder and wondering if you're going to be next to get fired. Most stores have small teams and there have been several times when staff has to receive either part, or an entire, truck alone due to being short handed. Head Office provides very little support to stores and managers are pretty much on their own. The mentality at the store level is very much “corporate vs. franchise.” Pet Valu does an excellent job of bending over backwards to accommodate the franchisees’ needs/wants, but at the expense of corporate stores.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Working with the animals that come into the store is a rewarding aspect of the role. Additionally, the employee discount is a valuable benefit, including 50% off store-branded products and a complimentary bag of pet food or case of canned food each month.


What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Management practices are a significant concern. Escalating issues to higher levels of leadership often does not result in meaningful follow-up, and employees may feel dismissed or, in some cases, unfairly reprimanded. Job security is also limited, as full-time roles can be reduced to part-time due to business decisions rather than individual performance.

Opportunities for internal advancement appear limited, with a tendency to hire externally for more senior positions. Additionally, the workplace culture can be challenging, with reports of a toxic environment and frequent gossip, despite policies intended to discourage such behavior.


What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The work environment can feel highly stressful and, at times, unstable. Some management approaches may come across as overly authoritative, which can impact team morale. There is also a perception of imbalance in responsibilities, with frontline staff taking on significant operational duties while management participates in out of province business activities. Also, Employees may receive modest gifts during holiday periods, while there is a noticeable disparity in the quality of items provided to management compared to frontline staff.


Additionally, there is a strong emphasis on soliciting donations from customers. Employees may feel pressured to make repeated requests, even after an initial refusal, which can be uncomfortable for both staff and customers.

There are also frequent interruptions during shifts due to smoke breaks taken by both staff and management, which occur multiple times throughout the day. In addition, phone usage during work hours is an observed issue, all workers have been observed engaging in their phones while customers wander the store. 


What is a typical day like for you at the company?
The role involves a wide range of responsibilities within tight time constraints. Opening duties, including cash handling, merchandising, and safety checks are expected to be completed within a 15-minute timeframe. Throughout the day, employees are responsible for maintaining store presentation, assisting customers, restocking inventory, implementing price changes, cleaning pet wash stations, completing laundry, sanitizing shelves, and monitoring product expiration dates.

Closing responsibilities include cleaning tasks such as sweeping and mopping, maintaining animal enclosures. 
You are to complete end-of-day cash procedures within a limited 15-minute period. Additionally, employees may be scheduled to work alone for extended periods, sometimes up to three hours at a time.

I had grown up wanting to work at "the pet store" (Pet Valu) as animals are not only a passion for me but a hobby. So saying I love my job is very much true. I love the close relationships you can nurture with regular customers and the opportunities you get to learn as much as you can about the products you are selling. Pet Valu offers a lot of knowledgeable information on Pet health and nutrition so our customers can be confident in what they are buying. 

Being in a small store with less staff has proven beneficial as it provides a more trusting and fun environment but has also proven to be difficult to cover staff when one or more are sick.

The hardest part of my job, oddly enough, has nothing to do with the work I am to do on a daily basis and what is expected of me but the total lack of effort on Pet Valu's part towards their employees. It saddened me to see Pet Valu take a different approach and direction as it seems to be losing focus not only on it's employees but the customers as more pressure is pushed on employees to force customers to buy more. This proves hard when from a small town and most of the customers are regulars. I will have worked with the company 5 years in April 2015 and despite my best efforts and proving (by taking over an managers position for 3 months while keeping the store running smoothly) myself It seems almost impossible to advance within the company any further. 

They keep their employees trapped at part-time where wage raises are capped without further hope to gain more, where the work load is more then what you are paid. As I previously stated I have been with the company happily for 5 years April, I am still currently at minimum wage. This does not offer me much choice in having to rethink my future with the Pet Valu company which is very regretful as I love this job.

The most enjoyable part of my job is definitely the customers and their pets. I love getting to know the people who come into the store and making both their pet and them happy. The great learning opportunity Pet Valu offers is great as well.

Pet Valu was probably the worst job I have ever worked at. For the entire time of my employment, I was always uneasy going into work and while being there. The managers were manipulative and bait you into thinking this was the best career move and then treat you horribly. I have never been anxious about going into work or being at a job in my employment history but this place never sat well with me. 

Management would tell you to come to them with problems but once you did, use it against you and drop your name to other employees. They would tell you to keep busy but most of the time would just stand there delegating work and micro managing you. My manager in particular knew it would make me uncomfortable and continue to hover while I tried to do things.

Icing on the cake is my dog passed away shortly before I quit and they made me feel bad for needing time off saying "we need you to come in for the rest of your shifts, if you need time you can sit in the back room."

They'll ask you to get involved and be apart of the team but as soon as you have an idea, it will be shot down.

Honestly such a hostile and unhealthy environment.

Slightly above minimum wage to be doing lifting labor almost all day from stocking 40LBS+ Bags and doing delivery on truck days with NO benefits. (Would make sense to include some given the amount of strain on your back)

When I finally quit, I was shamed over quitting and treated absolutely horribly. I ended up finding out my management had been talking about me, making up stories of things I "said" and telling employees. Even AFTER I quit I had employees messaging me with attacks about things I had apparently said behind their backs according to my MANAGER. Funny how in all of these conversations, I was never once included?

8.5 Hour shifts if you're full time and they'll mess around with your hours out of some power trip if they feel you're not doing well enough.

All locations are franchised and therefore different but mine was definitely terrible. They had ads up for job openings but anyone who came in my manager would scoff at after they left and try so hard to find a problem with their resume because interviews are "awkward".

I worked as a sales associate in a franchise store for three years, and then in a corporate store several years later for 3 short months before being promoted to manager of a brand new location. I was hired as a manager with little previous management experience but a lot of passion and knowledge within the company. 

Initially, I was on cloud nine. I learned a lot of things in a short period of time and loved my day to day work. Regular customers, seeing cool new pet products, learning about things i care about and interacting with like minded people. Coworkers at the store level were great and my first DSM was very supportive. Scheduling, ordering, merchandising to store standards and stock count procedures are some of the main rocks. 

Things change a lot and communication is poor. There is little praise from upper management and rude and demeaning comments have been made to me as well as my staff. Labour hours are very limited and you really struggle to complete all expectations within what is allowed. You and your staff will spend a LOT of time alone in the store which poses safety risks and can be stressful during busy times. No one wants to wait at the counter. And no on wants to see a customer leave because they couldn't be served fast enough. A lot of pressure put on store appearance and things being exactly a certain way, when realistically, it is hard to constantly meet these expectations while still being able to serve customers and answer their many questions. Hourly compensation is poor and advancement in this department is hard to get. 

Customers are a big plus and you will have a lot of fun interacting with them. Extensive product knowledge and genuine care and empathy is required because these guests put a lot of faith in you. It is ultimately a labour of love. Turnover in store manager roles seems high, at least in my district. It is a good place to build skills for your resume and move along to a company with better Human Resource Management and compensation.

I worked at Pet Valu for over a year and during that time I had never felt so put off by a workplace. (I worked in retail for over four years before being employed by this store, so I'm pretty well versed in how frustrating customer-facing roles can be. Pet Valu went above and beyond this.)

First off, my interview was conducted in March of 2014 and I was not contacted until August of 2014. The manager at the time called me and said my first day was the next day. (I lated found out I would be replacing someone that was about to be fired.)

Second, the district sales manager is, as someone else said, not the nicest person. (This is a huge understatement.) Myself and three of my colleagues send harassment claims about her to Human Resources. (These claims were never addressed, as far as I've heard.)

My store manager was moved to another store after being given THREE DAYS NOTICE. The new manager was constantly cruel to me and threatened my job weekly. He gave me write-ups for made-up reasons and ridiculed me in front of my co-workers and customers.

When I was hired, my position was sales associate. I was going to school at the time and only wished to work 20 hours a week. I ended up doing many other things such as paperwork, scheduling and the occasional order. I was also given 40 hours a week, even after asking to be given less. Throughout this, I only made minimum wage. In fact, when minimum wage in Manitoba went up from $10 to $10.40 an hour, payroll did not notice or apply the change to my paycheck for four months. They also went on to blame me for not telling them about minimum wage increases.

In short, Pet Valu is unappreciative and at times, terribly cruel to their front end associates. The only things I enjoyed about my time there were working with and educating people about animals, and some of the other sales associates I made friends with. Aside from that, this place is nothing but trouble.

When I first started working at PetValu, I had to do these videos for training. It said in the employee’s manual that they were to be done within 90 days (my limit) or else you will get terminated at the 90 day review. They also all had to be done in your free time. There were probably over 200 videos I had to watch. I was working on them, and in December it got busier for me (as it does for everyone around the holidays with work and life). The boss was getting aggravated with me because I was taking too long to finish them. One week he tells my manager to tell me that he wants me to have them finished within a week (I wasn’t even half way done by then). I was working a lot that week, plus shopping and getting ready for the holidays. I couldn’t finish them that week (but I did try). I just finished my last three modules Tuesday night (stayed up until 3 or 4 am). I go back to work and it’s a normal day. After a few hours of being there, my manager asks me to come out back with her because the boss wanted to see me. He told me where I didn’t finish the videos when asked, he had to let me go. He also said he didn’t think the job was best for me. They basically used me (so I’ve been told) because they knew back when I was interviewed I had another job (something I actually studied for) lined up. I had to choose what job I wanted because they both wouldn’t let me choose both. Someone who actually knows what has been going on these two months, said that they were just using me for the holidays and made an excuse to fire me. I haven’t even been there for 90 days yet AND I finished the videos, so I wasted my time for nothing. When I was interviewed, they made the job look a lot better than it was so I would choose them instead. I gave up the job I actually studied for and should have chose for a waste of my time. I am not the only employee that has had issues there.

I have worked at Pet Valu for around two years, during those two years I had some positive experiences with the job but I unfortunately had more negatives. The company does not offer enough hours for the stores to cover all the hours properly. Most times you would work most of a shift alone with no one else in the store - you would be stretched beyond measures to help customers within a timely matter, give the best customer service and keep the store looking presentable. The worst is when you're having to close the store alone while especially after someone leaves at 5pm and you're alone until 9pm trying to help customers, clean, order, face the store, dog washes, laundry, overstock, cash customers out, sweep/mop, etc. Management is not fair, there is definitely favourites presented. The store manager, district manager, and company itself let me down when I was personally attacked/harassed by a fellow co-worker and I brought it to their attention and NOTHING was done. The co-worker got no discipline, no suspension, NOTHING rather I the victim had to work at another location for a month or so to be separated from my co-worker who harassed me. I am very disappointed and disgusted at how this situation was dealt with. I found that this workplace had a lot of workers who were bullies, played mind games and did not care about their workers properly. You're told one thing and another thing happens. There is no respect or appreciation from this company/workplace. You're expected to go over and beyond, yet the company doesn't have your best interests in hand nor even protect you when your workplace becomes toxic. TOXIC is an accurate description for this workplace.

A typical day of work consisted of the opening procedure of the store,  counting the money, dealing with customers, acting as both the cashier and sales associate, and finally closing the store. That closely summarizes the typical job at Pet-Valu, such as simple and straight-forward, however I would like to add that Pet-Valu is much more than just that. Pet-Valu is a retail job at a much slower pace with the advantage of dealing with the occasional pet that walks in. Mainly, the job consisted of up-selling certain products over others and educating the customer with the best choices. 
Advantages consisted of working with sweet and gentle co-workers, as well as having time to relax and have things done at a certain pace. Since Pet-Valu isn't a huge retail store, employees get to meet, interact and work with management on a daily basis and communicate whatever difficulties they may have.
However, I can't say that working at Pet-Valu is perfect either. There is lots to learn while on the job. Training consists of hours of training videos and workbooks to learn the basics of all types of animal nutrition to teach the customers. However without prior knowledge and experience with all types of animals, giving advice to customers regarding certain things can be difficult. 
Furthermore, since some locations are franchised and others corporate, there are differences between the two. I have worked in both types, where the franchised owner is on top of everything related to money and as an employee, you learn to be very careful with how you count money. While in corporate, the higher-ups are constantly changing managers around to where they were better 'suited'. So a big disadvantage would be getting used to dealing with different managers and changes in corporate.

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