Pros
If you run a decent store, you can have a decent home life during the Christmas season, which is rare working retail management.
Cons
Hours have been cut to levels where it is impossible to finish tasks assigned. There is no promotion from within. Several full time positions have been cut within the last year or two, yet those positions work load is still expected to be 100%. Regional team in the Detroit area is one of the most unprofessional you will encounter. The regional manager has been there a long time and he has a long history of abuse of his staff and management teams in his region. He is a micro-manager who requires approval even to order a box of staples for your store. In his region, men are promoted, but women are not. Pay raises are almost non-existent for hourly associates, some taking longer than a year to receive a raise, and then it is not even a quarter an hour. Management if rated exceptional will receive usually 1-2%. You will be required to work 7 days a week multiple times throughout the year as dictated by regional / district manager, most times as a result of payroll being cut to fund swat teams in the Canadian market. Sales are not a measurable target that the company cares about, rather the number of customer emails you get (we are now forced to document our stores for anyone under a certain %, no matter if they ask everyone or not), or the number of items you scan in your store when researching lows and outs in your building. Yes that's right, sales don't matter, but the measure of a good store is if they scan items that are low in stocks over 1100 times a week. Now those items will still need to be scanned next week again, because if you try to order more items to increase your in stock levels to avoid unnecessary work each week, the corporate office will refuse to approve your order. Can you say groundhog's day anyone? Customer service doesn't matter either, as all visits focus on walking each section and nitpicking it to death, but even that changes based on the regional manager's mood or whether or not you are one of his favorites. Also as a rule if you are hired on as a manager, they will move you to whatever store they want to, so long as it's within an hour of your home. They do this frequently and just so you know, they do not do increases for extra driving. Some managers have been moved and have lost thousands of dollars per year, as well as increased weekly commute / work week as a result, and they were given little to no notice that this would be happening, and zero choice about the matter.