Has anyone out there made the transition from a District Manager in retail to Store Manager?
Asked by Smilely
I have an opportunity to run a "flagship" store for a prestigouse company. It would be for a comparable volume as a district. Approx 20 million with over 8 co-managers. Did you miss weekends off? Was it less stress mentally? Pros? Cons? Please only those with this experience respond. My background: 42 years old - Phisically fit female. I look and act young, am very positive and people like to work for me. I've been in retail for 26 years with 10 plus years in multi-unit management. (District Manager and Group Manager at department store). Last job I ran 15 fashion specialty stores and burned out on the politics, lack of intregrity and no life. What do you think????? The last 3 companies I was hired as a DM. I forgot what being a Store Manager was like! It's been 13 years! Good advice though. Politics are present at all jobs just at different levels but not every company lacks integrity and tolerates dishonest and unethical (discriminatory) business practices like the company I left after 4 years. I just could'nt play that "dirty tactics" game. I pride myself as being a mentor and have promoted several people to DM level. I'm not about screwing/using and hurting my employees for the sake of the business. They dont understand without those people there would be no business! I guess I'm just a people person. I may turn to a Human Resource position or continue to be a management consultant (freelance) as I have for the last 8 mths. Thanks for responding. ADVICE: Have a back up plan. Females tend to expire in fashion retail as we age while men dont. I was making 6 figures and unless I take a $20 million store I may never make $ like that again!

Best Answer:
Don't do it!!! It's really easy to romanticize about working back in the store, but in reality it's the same old routine day in day out, with the same colleagues, it all begins to feel like groundhog day! You are only as good as this stores location, and if it's a trouble store then a good deal of your time as you know will be spent dealing with all its problems, and some problems just can't be fixed no matter how much we tell store managers they can!! Area manager is a far easier job - I used to visit perhaps 4 or 5 stores a week out of the 25 I had, drive thru mcdonalds for breakfast , listen to my favourite music in the car on the way to the stores and sing along, get to the stores and tell the store managers to change this and that and then go home. It was so easy. (maybe I wasn't the most disciplined area manager but I had a knack of getting results!) The benefit I had as area manager was I could start virtually when I wanted (miss the rush hour traffic) and had all the weekends off, and work from home on fridays creating a 'long' weekend! With the store, you're tied to it's trading hours and it's internal problems, it gets very tedious after a while. I have made this move and I now have very itchy feet. I used to love meeting the 25 managers on my visits there were so many personalities and each visit was different. Flagship stores are just that aren't they? There's no opportunity to make your mark. Usually they take the money and run like clockwork. My career in retail was successful because I always insisted on taking over rubbish stores and improving them. It gave me a reason to get up in the morning. I would hate to run a flagship store, it would be so boring, wheres the challenge and the excitement?? Good luck though, I hope it all works out for you whichever decision you make.

Are you changing companies? To get to the district level where you are now, did you have to run a store first? Think about what that was like. I don't think it's any less stress, it's just a different kind of stress. Not having weekends off sucks- especially if you've got family. If the reason for leaving your last job had to do with politics burnout, be careful. It's retail and no matter how good the people are around you, there are always politics. I think you should make a list w. the pros and cons and compare them. Could you possibly take an extended personal leave from your current position and try the other position on a probationary period? Then you could get your feet in there and decide from experience.
Answered by trippedits

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Answered by Carlos Ortiz