co-manager

sales associate

assistant manager

supervisor

store manager

DSW-Designer Shoe Warehouse

I worked with DSW from the grand opening, through the booming back to school season finally had to let it go when winter hit and hours were cut significantly. I was required to have a fully open schedule (3 full days during the week and one full weekend day) and they wouldn't accommodate any other jobs. I was working 3 hour shifts (the shortest shift allowed) 6 days a week from 7-10am but had on call shifts (straight from h***) until the early afternoon so I couldn't book anything else during the day. As a recent graduate with mountains of student debt this was not enough to make ends meet, let alone put money away. The people made the job, and the random customer here and there made it worth sticking around.

Unbelievable bureaucracy! I mean extreme. If you want to work in a hard labour camp, by all means go ahead and apply. This job, if you are on a managerial position will eat up your whole life, 24/7, you are pretty much obligated to follow info on a few communication mediums even on your days off. There is no official statement regarding this, as I don't think openly they allowed to do it, but if you are not caught up, you are in trouble. Support from superiors random and chaotic.(in contrast to expectations, which by the way, are tremendous, totally not adequate to pay they are offering, which is barely over minimum for assistant manager, at least).
They obviously, do not pay you extra for work you do at home.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Management team really cares about you, personally and professionally. They teach you and help support you every moment.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Peak season periods, because you welcome many customers and you need to oversee the sales floor and continue with all your responsibilities and activities.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Set up the store to welcome every customer. Keep the store operating under high visual standards, deliver an exceptional service to each visitor and try to accomplish daily goals as a team.

The people are fine, management is however something. The manager had clear favourites and it shows. Sometimes your not able to take your breaks. Impossible to call-in sick… (you will get gaslit). Manager is not professional and very moody, so if they don’t like you, good luck. However, supervisors are nice. The day goes by very slowly. Overall, I would strongly avoid this place.  The culture is toxic. 

You also have on-call shifts so pretty much your day is restricted to wether your working or not. Sucks when they approve it, but when they dont, your loosing money so its a lose-lose. 

At the beginning it was great but eventually the hype wears down. Management is ok but  always understaffed or badly scheduled. They don’t really train you that much but expect good performance which is upsetting never really have a chance to grow. Customers always mess up store and you’re expected to get on your hands and feet and pack the boxes back perfectly or you’re in trouble. You’ll be cleaning most of time never anything new or fun happens unless they randomly feel like teaching you something new 

Beginning of shift we were told our duties and given certain task assigned to our section. i learned to communicate with multiple customers at once and be able to help all of them. The management was very outgoing and always made sure everyone  was positive. All of the sales associates got along very well and help if there was anything needed. the hardest part was making sure all the sutures were greeted and made sure they got the help they needed. the most enjoyable part working at DSW was the fun atmosphere and how everyone was always willing to help.

Job is manageable but customers sometimes treat you like dirt, typical customer service. Team and management were good but the loyalty system is incredibly stressful on employees and management since you have to track it and harass customers to sign up (even if they have no email or are from out of the country, it looks bad on you).  If you can do VIP, it becomes your main job and others are not trained on it or allowed to cash out customers unfortunately which is difficult when busy. Other than that, the tasks are enjoyable and having good coworkers helps.

Working in this company has shown that I am able to grow as a person.
I know how to delegate myself and take responsibility for my own actions. 

Unfortunately, depending on which location you work at the trickle down effect is real. You can try your best to hold management accountable but this ain't no movie. It took around 3 years to remove one manager from one store location and about 1 year for another (this one fell asleep in his car on his break for 6 hours leaving my 1 coworker to run the store herself).

Honestly, it is chaotic but I weirdly found growth in all of this.



The store manager and assistant manager would pawn off their work to others such as the supervisors, while the managers are expecting the supervisors and associates to complete their own work with perfection in a limited amount of time. The assistant manager would watch everyone work without doing any of their own work and would end up getting upset that "nothing got done". the store is always severely understaffed as the store doesn't have enough hours for the associates.

the enjoyable part of working there is when you get to leave the store.

Working at DSW was a really positive experience for me. The environment was welcoming from the start, and the staff made it easy to feel comfortable and part of the team. Everyone was supportive and willing to help each other out, whether it was during busy shifts or when someone needed help learning something new. The managers were approachable and respectful, and they created a workplace where people felt valued. Overall, the friendly coworkers and team-oriented atmosphere made it an enjoyable place to work.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Co-manager 45 salaries reported	$19.96 per hour
Sales associate 49 salaries reported	$17.73 per hour
Assistant manager 10 salaries reported	$21.55 per hour
Supervisor 7 salaries reported	$18.80 per hour
Store manager 4 salaries reported	$57,158 per year

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