A retail store manager runs one store and answers for its sales, payroll, shrink and standards. They hire, schedule and coach the team, get floor sets and markdowns done on time, and sell on the floor during the busiest hours.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
We're looking for a Store Manager to run one of our stores and own its sales, payroll, shrink and standards. You'll hire, schedule and train the team, get floor sets and markdowns done on time, and work the floor during the busiest hours. You're the person the District Manager calls about the store's results.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Grow sales to plan by coaching the team on greeting customers, product knowledge and add-on sales.
Hire, train and schedule the team within the store's payroll budget, including seasonal staff for the holidays.
Keep the store stocked and set to company standards, with floor sets, planograms and markdowns done on time.
Control shrink through cash procedures, receiving checks, an organized stockroom and a team that greets every customer.
Own cash control: review over and short trends, spot-check drawers and deposits, and retrain anyone who skips a step.
Coach the Assistant Store Manager and Key Holders to run the store when you're not there.
Resolve customer complaints and returns outside policy within your authority.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Review yesterday's sales, conversion, units per transaction and payroll, and set goals for today.
Walk the floor at open and assign zones, breaks and tasks.
Work the sales floor during the busiest hours.
Check that buy online, pick up in store orders are ready on time.
Act on the weekly store communication and the District Manager's requests.
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Store sales to plan: [your target].
Conversion: [your target].
Units per transaction: [your target].
Store payroll to budget: [your target].
Store shrink at physical inventory: [your target].
5. Required Qualifications and Skills
[2+] years managing a retail store, or [3+] years as an Assistant Store Manager.
Has hired, scheduled and coached a sales team.
Comfortable with POS systems, store reports and basic retail math.
Has handled cash office procedures and bank deposits.
Able to work a full-time schedule that includes nights, weekends and holidays.
6. Preferred Experience
Specialty retail experience, ideally in [your product category].
Has led a floor set or store reset.
Has met a payroll budget through a holiday season.
Bilingual in English and [a language your customers speak].
7. Physical Requirements
Stand and walk for most of a [9]-hour shift.
Lift and carry boxes up to [40] pounds, and climb ladders to stock and set displays.
With or without reasonable accommodation.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
Full-time, about [45] hours a week, including nights, weekends and holidays.
Store-based, with occasional trips to other stores or the central office.
Extra hours during the holiday season, floor sets and physical inventory.
On the store's call list for alarms and after-hours emergencies.
9. Compensation and Benefits
Pay: [range and hourly or salary basis].
Additional pay: [overtime, bonus or incentive terms, or none].
Benefits: [health, dental, vision, retirement, paid time off, and when they start].
10. Company Culture and Overview
[Two or three sentences on what your company does, the area you serve, and the support a new store manager gets in the first 90 days.]
11. How to Apply
[Apply link or email]. Our process: [phone interview, in-person interview, and next steps]. Contact [hiring contact] if you need an accommodation during the application process.
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What running one store in a small chain looks like
In a chain of 10 to 15 stores, the central office picks the product and sets the prices. The store manager's work is people, payroll, standards and selling, with a district manager checking in every week or two.
Product shows up; the store gets it sold
The buyer and inventory planner decide what each store gets, and the warehouse ships it on a set day. A store manager usually can't reorder a hot item or mark down a slow one on their own. What they control is how fast new stock reaches the floor, whether the planogram is set right, and whether associates know the product well enough to suggest a second item.
Shrink gets counted long after it happens
A store's shrink number arrives at physical inventory, often months after the losses. The store manager keeps it small with daily habits: reading the refund and void report each morning, spot-checking drawers, keeping fitting rooms counted and high-price items in sight, and a team that greets every shopper. A manager who waits for the count to find out has lost the chance to fix that year.
No last-minute call-ins in NYC
New York City's Fair Workweek Law counts every employee at a chain's city stores, so even a small store is covered once that total reaches 20. When someone calls out, the manager can't order a coworker in on short notice. Inside 72 hours of a shift, extra time is a request the worker can turn down, and a yes must be in writing. On-call shifts are banned, and cutting a shift inside that window generally isn't allowed. Source: NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection: Fair Workweek Law in retail, FAQ.
Bag checks belong on the clock
Some stores check employees' bags at the door after close. Under federal wage law, the Supreme Court held in 2014 that time spent in a required end-of-shift security screening isn't paid time. California's Supreme Court ruled in 2020 that under its own wage rules, waiting for and going through a required exit bag search counts as hours worked. Other states can set their own rules, so the simple fix is to check bags before people clock out. Source: Frlekin v. Apple Inc., California Supreme Court (2020).
Exempt only with a team to run
To treat a store manager as exempt from overtime, federal rules look for a salary, management as the main duty, real weight in hiring and firing, and regular direction of two full-time employees or the equivalent, such as one full-timer and two half-timers. The same hours can't count for two managers. A small store staffed by a few part-timers may not clear that bar. Source: 29 CFR 541.104: Two or more other employees.
How much retail store managers make
The closest BLS group for retail store managers is First-Line supervisors of retail sales workers. First-Line supervisors of retail sales workers who work for retailers earned a median of $23.18 an hour ($48,220 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s about the same as the $48,520 median for First-Line supervisors of retail sales workers in all industries. About 997,650 of the 1,121,800 First-Line supervisors of retail sales workers in that survey work for retail stores.
Usually a salary plus a bonus on sales to plan, payroll and shrink, often paid each quarter or after the physical count. BLS counts store managers in the same group as department and shift managers, so a manager running a whole store often earns more than the median shown here.
Retail stores
$48,220$48,220 median Middle half $38,260–$61,660 10th–90th $32,180–$76,330
All industries
$48,520$48,520 median Middle half $38,590–$62,130 10th–90th $33,120–$77,080
$20k$30k$40k$50k$60k$70k$80k$90k
10th–90th percentileMiddle halfMedianAnnual pay, May 2025. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.
Annual pay by percentile
Group
10th
25th
Median
75th
90th
Retail stores
$32,180
$38,260
$48,220
$61,660
$76,330
All industries
$33,120
$38,590
$48,520
$62,130
$77,080
These figures cover all retail. Pay differs by store type, so check what local stores like yours pay. Post a real range for your market in the ad.
Skills to hire for, and what you can teach
Hire for these
Has built a weekly schedule to a payroll budget and kept to it
Sells on the floor and teaches associates to suggest a second item without pushing
Holds every person to the cash steps, including the ones they like most
Hires fast for the holidays without lowering the bar
Turns yesterday's sales report into a goal each associate understands
Teach these on the job
Your POS, cash office and deposit steps
Your planograms, floor set calendar and markdown process
How stock and transfers move between your warehouse and stores
Your buy online, pick up in store routine
Your product line, if they come from another category
Store managers work in the POS back office, the scheduling app, the weekly store communication from the central office and a handheld scanner for receiving and counts. A manager who has used a door counter to read conversion will pick up your reports quickly, whatever brand they ran before.
Retail store manager interview questions
They have their own page: 6 questions that test this job, what strong and weak answers sound like, and a work exercise to run with your finalists.
Fill in the blanks from this store's own history, not the chain's best store. A store that opened last year or sits in a slower mall needs its own plan.
Store sales to plan
Actual sales against plan for the day, week and month, from the POS. Look at sales by hour too, to see whether the busiest hours had enough people selling.
Conversion
Transactions divided by shopper visits from the door counter, by day and hour. A drop while traffic holds steady points to selling or staffing; a drop in both points outside the store.
Units per transaction
Items sold divided by transactions, by associate and by shift. Use it to coach suggestive selling, and check returns so units aren't padded at the register and brought back later.
Store payroll to budget
Clocked hours against the hours the budget allows for the week's sales. Check it daily in the holiday season, when seasonal hires and overtime can use up the budget fast.
Store shrink at physical inventory
The gap between book inventory and the physical count, as a share of sales. Between counts, watch cycle count misses, voids and unreceived transfers as early warnings.
Career path
Assistant store managerChecks in shipments, counts the safe and covers the store on the manager's days off.
Store managerOwns one store's sales, payroll, shrink and team.
Manager of a bigger or new storeTakes over a higher-volume location or opens a new one.
District managerSigns off on schedules and payroll for a group of stores and visits each one.
What is the difference between a store manager and an assistant store manager?
The store manager owns the results: sales, payroll, shrink and the team. The assistant handles the work that keeps the store supplied and balanced, like checking in shipments, the safe count and deposits, and is in charge whenever the manager is off. In this template the store manager hires and the assistant helps build schedules. Promote an assistant when they can hit a payroll budget without help.
How much does a retail store manager make?
First-Line supervisors of retail sales workers who work for retailers earned a median of $23.18 an hour ($48,220 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $38,260 and $61,660 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and overtime.
How many hours does a retail store manager work?
The template says about 45 a week, with nights, weekends and holidays. Expect more from November through early January and during floor sets and the physical count. Put the usual hours and any holiday weeks when vacation is blocked in the posting, so candidates from other chains can compare the job fairly.
Should I promote a store manager from within or hire from another chain?
An assistant from your own stores already knows your product, POS and warehouse routine, which cuts training time. An outside hire may bring habits from a chain that runs tighter on payroll or shrink. Many chains do both: they grow assistants for the next opening and look outside when no one inside is ready. Either way, ask how the person's last holiday season went.
Does a store manager need to be bilingual?
Only where the store's customers need it. The template lists a second language as a plus, not a must. In a store where many shoppers speak Spanish, Vietnamese or another language, a manager who speaks it can serve them and coach associates who do. Name the language only for the stores where it fits.
