This document discusses the experiences of three women in retail management positions: a mall manager for Piercing Pagoda, a district manager for Piercing Pagoda, and the owner of a shoe store. It outlines their career paths, daily responsibilities, challenges, and lessons learned about effective communication and adapting to changes in the industry.

1. By: Loretta Davis

2. • Jami Folk- Mall Manager Piercing Pagoda
• Angela Savvopolous- District Manager Piercing
Pagoda
• Sherri Merkel-Owner/Operator Merkel’s Shoes

3. Mall Manager-Piercing Pagoda

4. • Has worked for Piercing Pagoda for the past twelve
years.
• After one year promoted to store manager.
• After 7 years promoted to Mall Manager.
• In charge of 3 Piercing Pagoda stores, managers in
training, and staff.

5. • Lead by example.
• Show your team that YOU care about the store and its
performance.
• Show your team that you care about their individual
successes.

6. • Conference calls
• Checking numbers
• Checking in with the stores and the teams to make sure
they are ready for the day
• Motivating staff
• Training store managers in training to be sure they are on
the right path

7. • Customers upset when they see that all the gold products
are not made in Italy like they used to be.
• Customers think we have lower quality products because
of where they are made
• Store closings because of bad economy, makes you
wonder if one of your stores will be closed next

8. District Manager-Piercing Pagoda

9. • Born & raised in small town in Minnesota
• Moved to PA in her early 20’s with a small amount of
retail management experience and no college education
• Got a management position at Piercing Pagoda in the
York Galleria Mall
• Has been with Pagoda for the past 10 years
• Has been a district manager for 7 years

10. • Stay connected with your team even if you are not physically
present. COMMUNICATION is key!
• Always be approachable by your staff, let them know that you are
there for them no matter what the problem may be.
• Do not bully or offend, know how to coach your team.

11. • A lot of conference calls, with upper management and
staff from home office, as well as the management under
her.
• Reviewing sales and business reports on a daily basis.
• Seeking out opportunity areas for sales and business to
go over and work on with team.
• Doing store visits on a monthly basis to be sure
everything is running smooth and the store looks good.
• Touches base on a daily basis with managers and teams.

12. • Being able to communicate with everyone, even without
being physically there.
• Has learned to create effective communication channels
so she is always connected with the store.
• Has them call her with numbers throughout the day,
emailing and phone calls have become part of every day
routine

13. • Company downsizing due to store closings and territory
and district re-structuring
• Have to worry about losing your job when so many stores
are closing

14. Owner- Merkel’s Shoes

15. • Inherited Merkel’s Shoe store from her father in law 15
years ago.
• Owns a skating rink with her husband, which he
manages
• Manages and completely runs the shoe store herself with
no business management experience previously.

16. • When you own your own business no two days are the
same.
• Ring sales, look over sales figures, train people, buy new
merchandise ect.
• Hectic and a lot of work

17. • Work with certain vendors that you have accounts with,
who send you catalogs each season
• Call in and order what you want from the catalogs after
analyzing what you believe will sell the best and how
many you will sell
• Find new vendors to buy from at trade shows a few times
a year
• Make sure you keep styles that frequent customers are
used to, to keep them coming back.

18. • Hard to communicate with vendors who have call centers
in other countries. Makes it difficult to find the right
person or department to speak to.
• Overall quality of shoes has gone downhill and you have
to watch who you order from.
• Competitors can buy similar styles and sell at a cheaper
price, this is why it is important to recognize the things
that keeps your customers coming back and cater to that.

19. • Communication is key in management
• Communication is also important when working with
vendors in the buying/merchandising process
• There are ups and downs to every position, you just learn
how to deal with them over time.
• Globalization has made it an uncertain time in business,
but you have to find new ways to connect with customers
and realize the reason they shopped with you in the first
place.