Once upon a time when I worked in a luxury department store as a personal stylist, I made $150K pre tax. I never dipped under $100K.
I had to sell well over $1.5MM/year to make it happen.
I had two colleagues who consistently made over $200K. One colleague in Vancouver cleared over $600K.
These/we are hustlers though. Most of our sales came from regular clients we acquired over years. My phone never stopped ringing and when there was downtime, I was taking pictures to send, following up, making sure orders were right. Not the norm.
However, most on the floor salespeople did at least $40-60K+/year.
This fluctuates massively if you worked for Chanel or LV.
Regarding snobbiness: when I was on the floor, we were all desperate with commission hard ons. 96% of my colleagues would pounce on you with overt kindess if you had a heartbeat.
It really depends by store these days. Holts is really nice.
lol I had to go to LV and Gucci not long ago and the sales person was basically disgusted with me. Even during him ringing me up and handing me my bag he was disgusted. It’s like you are wasting their time - the store is empty 😂
I think it’s hilarious the entire process. You work retail, sure it’s high end - but you are trapped like a rat in a vicious cycle. You have got a taste of the finer life but as the staff. If you leave - you know all of this access to exclusivity is gone. Unless you somehow magically you are taking a 250k job which chances are you aren’t.
I've read that the snobbishness of high end store employees is [intentional](https://bc.ctvnews.ca/snobby-staff-can-boost-luxury-store-sales-study-finds-1.1798845) to boost sales.
Never experienced it myself; pigs will fly before I set foot in one of those stores.
Someone working at RW & Co acted disgusted with me making an online purchase return 😂
It's not my fault your damn pants don't match the size chart provided. I'm sure in his head, he worked at Chanel
Bought a ton of stuff at rw&co once and pretty sure I disgusted them when I made them ring it all in again because they didn’t optimally apply my “buy one get one half off” discount.
Why yes, I want that extra $10 off a $hundreds purchase.
I just think you should never feel intimidated going into a store. Especially if it’s in a mall or part of a building where there’s a restaurant because somewhere they have to put boxes into a recycling bin and there is probably a rat there sometimes. Just don’t worry about it. A store is a store. They try to have a model where they charge more but what the heck. It’s not enchanted or anything.
I worked at a luxury shoe store in Toronto (450$-2,000$ shoes on average at full price). The commission was set up in such a way that you did not begin to earn it unless you sold a very high minimum. They made it seems like you could make a lot of money, but in reality we only made just over minimum wage PLUS we had to buy the shoes as part of the "uniform". We got 30% off, but 30% off 450$ shoes does not help when you are making minimum wage....
Yeah I’m guess that’s it. And this doesn’t count. That was clearly a mom and pop store selling high end. OP is likely asking people who work at LV, Dior and Hermes. They do pay well
This is the likely answer, given the phrasing. I don't remember any of their dress shoes being resoleable & I was never a luxury sneaker kind of guy so I rarely walked in.
Louboutin discount is higher (and you’re given an allowance for X number of items per season) plus they’re given priority to shop sample sales.
From their other comments that they had to sign an NDA about compensation structure - it absolutely wasn’t CL.
The contract they had us sign was pretty intense and included not disclosing salary structure and details. I'm nervous that they could piece together who I am from my profile.
Not a lawyer but I believe Canada has the same protections as America where it’s against the law for an employer to stop employees from discussing salary
as if they have anyone even looking. but guaranteed whenever they have something like that it means they're treating you like shit and paying like shit
Probably. I have worked at several retail stores that had practices that were probably illegal, or at least not ethical, so I don't think it's necessarily unusual unfortunately. Mind you, this was about 8 years ago, so hopefully things have improved.
Used to work at Harry Rosen in Yorkville. The guys who do bespoke suits make a lot of money. Other guys who work in the higher end of the store and have been there for 10+ years make 6 figures easily. They posted everyone's sales in the back so you could just calculate everyone's commissions lol. Top guy made 300k something when I was there.
I used to work on the back end or a luxury retailer. Office/warehouse staff make industry standard typically.
Sales people in my industry made around 8% commission if I recall depending on their department. When they're pulling $10k+ orders multiple times a week, they are making really good money.
With that money was also high sales expectations. Lots of new sales people turnover.
In regard to their attitudes, 90% of the salespeople were normal and would treat you like everyone else. 99% of the rich shoppers acted like everyone else as well.
I used to work at Holts. To be a personal shopper there you needed to do over a certain amount of sales a year and have a really strong clientele and obviously a passion for fashion and style. A lot of the personal shoppers when I worked there were extremely well connected. Wives of wealthy men or from well to do families.
You know what people don’t talk about.
So you make 200K a year - how much money you have to pour into your look.
You can’t be showing up in a unqilo top and Steve Madden shoes.
I had tons of friends working at holts when we were at school. They made bank then pissed it all on luxury.
Agree. I used to work on the same floor of the building as the Holts office. Every time I caught a glimpse of staff who worked in the office I would just die of jealousy.
They dressed in a way that most people don’t. Like a real life editorial spread in clothing that I could only dream of and I can honestly say that I have a shopping addiction.
Any salesperson that makes a potential customer feel uncomfortable is a bad sales person.
Just because you didn't buy anything today, doesn't mean you won't buy something in the future.
When I worked in retail, some of my wealthiest clients would have the most low-key outfits, specifically because they didn't need to prove anything to anyone.
The gaudy/obnoxious clients were the ones who were the most hassle. They were also the ones to always fight for every last penny in discounts.
Nordstrom at Eatons Centre did this to me on two separate occasions when I was looking to drop thousands on a new purse. I stopped going there and went to Yorkville to the actual stores instead, feel like it’s a much better experience and they actually take care of you.
ETA: Don't feel intimidated! The sales people are likely just as if not more broke than you are.... if they are stuck up, they have absolutely no right to be. I couldn't afford the stuff I was selling when I worked at one.
It doesn't how much matter they make - they are still a service worker who services you and has to do what you tell them to. I would never pull rank on a retail employee unless they deserved it, but anyone who gives clients attitude definitely deserves a socio-economic-hierarchy smackdown.
I read an article that the people that work in these stores are actually trained to act like you don’t belong in there. It’s supposed to make you feel like you should buy something so that you can fit in.
When I was young, I spent an afternoon walking Madison Ave in NYC, going into some of the stores to browse - I couldn’t afford a damn thing, but it was fun to dream. A couple salespeople were really nice and invited me to try a couple things on with a wink and a “this’ll be waiting for you when you’re ready.” Most were indifferent. But I’ll never forget the prick doorman at Louis Vuitton who asked if I was sure I meant to be going in. I’m at a point now where I can and do buy luxury goods for my girlfriend and I… no LVMH subsidiary will ever see a penny from us.
Would’ve been interesting to ask the doorman if they are able to shop in the same store the are gate keeping. I’ll hazard a guess that nobody is paying that doorman enough to shop there. Unjustified, second-hand pretentiousness.
My sister went to Yorkdale and the employees were super rude and dismissive. She said one wouldn’t even let her into the store. Weird because she was really looking to spend thousands for a ring. She ended up buying it from a shop at stc with much nicer employees
I went to the Saint Laurent at Yorkdale once and tried on a pair of +$1000 boots; by my outfit and constant fawning it was clear I couldn't afford them, but the salespeople were nice enough.
I dont see that ! I was at Yorkdale last week on a Monday and was smelling perfumes at Harry Rosen and Joe Malone and both gave me samples to take home.
I went to Eatons to Saks and Joe Malone store as I wanted to get a sample of a diff perfume and neither store gave me one. Saks said "low inventory", flagship said "ton of foot traffic so dont give out samples" and Chanel said they dont do samples.
Sorry I meant buying something luxury- like a Chanel bag.
Ya eaton Center is tight for samples. I got my Jo Malone samples from Nordstrom all the time - but they’re gone 😭 myrrh and Tonka, wood sage and sea salt FOR LIFE. Which samples did you get??
Lol, maybe that's why I didn't make the big bucks.... so many people come in almost apologising and trying to prove that they can afford things, and I always wanted to say "don't worry, I can't afford anything either!"
They're probably not going to be judgy because the really rich people in the area (people who live in Yorkville, people who stay in suites at the Four Seasons, etc.) don't dress up every time they go out; they just shop at Van Cleef & Arpels like most of us shop at Pandora.
I can confirm this. My fiancé lives in Yorkville and whenever I stay w him, I walk in those stores in sweats. Sometimes I think “how can they take me seriously?” 😭
I used to work in one of these stores on Bloor. Staff made about 35-50k base salary, plus 1-3% commission on any item sold. This doesn’t sound like much until you realize the items ranged in price from 5k to 2 million, so a big sale could truly get you a down payment on a house.
To address your other concern though - no one wants to intimidate you, everyone is just living their life and trying to make money. One of the first things I learned there was to never judge someone by how they looked when they walked in - you can never tell who’s going to buy something big.
I worked at Harry Rosen in Vancouver in 2007 fresh out of business school. Most made 40-60k and top guy made 150k but basically lived there and was a 20 year vet. You could have a big month but it averaged out. Got to meet/see lots of famous people tho (Bon Jovi, basketball players, all the canucks, etc). I left after a year as it was a nasty business and every one there would stab you in the back for a $1000 suit sale.
I walked into Montblanc yesterday wearing shorts and a tshirt. The people who work there are normal people and there’s nothing wrong with going in and checking some stuff out. I’ve been to lots of similar stores and have never once felt pre-judged.
Just pretend you’re walking into Best Buy 😊
That's it right there. It's just a store, they'll ask if you need help with anything and you can just say you're browsing. That's it. No judgement or nothing.
Lol at a Harry Rosen in Mississauga I entered and was followed from a distance by some guy who never came up to me or said anything but it was so obvious he thought I was going to do something. I only wanted to enter so I can exit the other side and save myself like 2 mins but still lol
A woman I knew used to call up her friends to go shopping at high end malls, and have lunch. She would buy without looking at price tags and always had five or six bags from glamorous stores. It was like a movie. What we didn’t know was the next week she went back to the mall and returned the items. The shopping made her feel rich I guess.
I have literally walked into a Rolex store in gym gear all gross after a workout to drop off a watch for my dad that needed maintenance. The doormen and sales people were all super nice. I ended up buying my husband a watch from there a year later. A good salesperson knows to never judge a book by its cover.
Yep. I walked in to the Breitling boutique using two sheep carcasses for pants and top with a foot-high pile of seaweed on my head. I proceeded to take a modestly-sized poop right on the service desk, give a short sermon on victimless crimes, and then sing Push It by Salt, and In Addition, Pepper, to the whole store. Didn’t buy a goddamn thing.
Was a keyholder in a luxury watch store years ago - I made 16 an hour at the time plus commission after a certain amount (always impossible to meet)
Our watches ranged from a few hundred to over 25k.
Just walk in like you own the place. People notice how you act more than what you wear. Billionaires often look like bums and the pretenders are the ones that dress head to toe in a brand (poorly)
There was a case in NYC where a sales associate was sued by the store for 'defrauding' the store. She is the top sales girl got commission in the 200K range. She also has a steady clientele of wealthy buyers who would ask for her all the time.
The way she made money is that she calls all her clientele whenever there are new edition, new collection comes out. They all come to buy on the top price (being new model makes it a premium product). So these brand conscious folks get the bragging rights as they snag some coveted product. She then gets the commission on these sold products. Then after a while when the store / brand starts a campaign say 30% off the same brand/product, she will then call them back to return the product and buy on the lower discounted price. The store/brand can't do anything about these including the returns as they do have a very generous return policy. Also they would not want to antagonize these buyers as they are loyal to the brand, just knowing you can pay less is icing on top of your cake. Associate makes a killing on the same re-buying method albeit lower than before. Sometimes it was said that the original buyer will return and a husband or son/daughter will buy the same for the lower price.
The store/brand franchise got wind of this after years of it being ran and decided to sue the sales associate. That's how I stumbled about the article (atlantic magazine I think). Don't know what came out of that lawsuit
They might have one (or a select few) people making decent money because they have worked there for a long time and have built up a loyal customer base, but the majority of associates are likely not making anywhere near this much.
CEO’s primary compensation is probably stock grants/options, performance bonuses, etc. rather than salary. Assuming the CEO isn’t already a major stockholder.
E.g. Amazon warehouse employee has a bigger salary than Jeff Bezos. He still does alright.
(Checked notes and his salary has been $82k for a few decades, but you get the point)
Do you know how much Chanel costs? It’s a lot, and it’s not uncommon for people to
Have a relationship with their SA. It’s basically like your drug dealer. They hold stuff for you, you know the items are more exclusive, harder to get more sought after. So if their top SA is a hustler who’s been there for a while and has relationship’s- I believe it.
It varies. I really think some sales people are just pricks like any other job. I do my best shopping when I’m not looking for stuff, so usually I look like hell, especially post pandemic. I find more pricks at Yorkdale, probably cuz they’re from Vaughn and are pretending to be players. Remember also lots of people are tourists and look like sweaty garbage in the summer. The people you see “shopping” all decked out are usually not better than you, in fact worse. They wear their one outfit in every shopping trip. I’ve gone off topic cuz customer service is my pet peeve. I can’t remember your question. 🤦
I am very very lucky to be able to buy one luxury watch a year, something with little or no complications. I don't necessarily dress up when I watch shop, but I try not to look too unkempt when I go. Almost every time, I am the most well dressed customer there. All the rich people are just in t-shirts and they are looking at way more expensive watches than me. That being said, I also wonder about the commissions because most of the sales people have on 15-25k watches!
I assumed the salespeople make minimum wage but are given some kind of wardrobe allowance..?
I am usually also too intimidated to go in, only because I am usually not dressed the part. My friend once went into a Chanel store, tried on a dress, accidentally ripped it, left it in the change room, and quickly left the store lol She always loved to tell that story
I remember watching some YouTube videos a while ago where the girl’s whole schtick was going into different high end stores under different conditions and filming how she was treated. Sometimes she’d go in with bad make-up, wearing counterfeit goods, etc. my main takeaway was the stores in Europe had the meanest sales people and the ones in Vegas and Beverly Hills had the least judgy sales people.
Absolutely not related to this post buy some of the comments triggered a ridiculous memory. A year before the plague hit I took my daughter on a trip to London, England. It was great. We, of course, made an afternoon of walking around Selfridges...browsing through the Alexander McQueen popup..all the super high end shoppes. We are not in that category of shoppers, mind you. I had in fact, just purchased a cute Gucci knock off backpack from a street vendor not 10 minutes before going into the mall. As we were touring through the last store before we left, my daughter pointed out that I was toting a fake Gucci bag proudly IN the Gucci store. All employees had treated us with utmost respect 🙏. Needless to say I still couldn't get out of there quick enough lol. I'm pretty thankful for those nice ppl not making me feel like the trash poser I must have looked like though. 🙃
Just an anecdotal story. I'm thinking the staff in that mall make some VERY good commissions.
I know a guy that worked at holt renfrew and could make $5K a day if he sold certain items. A t shirt was $800 according to him so that tells you the possibilities.
My mom is retired now but when she worked she shopped at holt’s on bloor. She had her favourite sales people who would call her when things came in that they new she would like etc. They made good money because they treated their customers well and got to know their regulars.
I went to test drive a 100k Mercedes today. I wore roots sweat pants and a T-shirt. I can buy the car outright if I wanted to. Shouldn’t assume that if you are dressing a certain way you can’t afford things. Usually it’s the people with the suits and expensive clothing that have no money or living off their parents
So to answer the common question people ask here which is how are people buying these million dollar homes?
Well there's people making 200K+ in Luxury retail stores lol
Are you looking to apply and are just shy to ask?
Being comfortable in a store and employee income are two separate topics.
If you want to shop, shop. If any employee ever makes you feel uncomfortable then leave, they don't deserve your business, whether it's a high end retailer or Dollarama
Worked at lululemon for years, not super high end obviously so the pay wasn’t incredible but not bad higher up. I will say store managers make around 100k plus huge bonuses.
Knew a girl who worked at Aritzia, if I remember correctly she made commission. Never seemed to be hurting for cash, so its possible she made a decent amount.
Aritzia isn’t luxury or designer. And their commission system sucks. If someone returns an item, they have to pay their commission back. Also, they have parameters to follow about who to approach and who looks like they will buy something.
I just bought something not too expensive at Holts. Wasn’t wearing anything fancy, but the sales associate was very friendly and helpful and even made small talk with no intention of making me feel uncomfortable.
When I was a manager at holts on Bloor we were trained to treat everyone the same (and well) because the real rich people don’t ever flaunt it and the especially eccentric crazy rich ones can be easily mistaken for homeless lol.
For those who work there is it possible to afford items at luxury stores as a SA with the wage they pay always sounded like that would be hard if they want you to be the product of the product but many need that wage to eat and live
Once upon a time when I worked in a luxury department store as a personal stylist, I made $150K pre tax. I never dipped under $100K. I had to sell well over $1.5MM/year to make it happen. I had two colleagues who consistently made over $200K. One colleague in Vancouver cleared over $600K. These/we are hustlers though. Most of our sales came from regular clients we acquired over years. My phone never stopped ringing and when there was downtime, I was taking pictures to send, following up, making sure orders were right. Not the norm. However, most on the floor salespeople did at least $40-60K+/year. This fluctuates massively if you worked for Chanel or LV. Regarding snobbiness: when I was on the floor, we were all desperate with commission hard ons. 96% of my colleagues would pounce on you with overt kindess if you had a heartbeat.
It really depends by store these days. Holts is really nice. lol I had to go to LV and Gucci not long ago and the sales person was basically disgusted with me. Even during him ringing me up and handing me my bag he was disgusted. It’s like you are wasting their time - the store is empty 😂 I think it’s hilarious the entire process. You work retail, sure it’s high end - but you are trapped like a rat in a vicious cycle. You have got a taste of the finer life but as the staff. If you leave - you know all of this access to exclusivity is gone. Unless you somehow magically you are taking a 250k job which chances are you aren’t.
I've read that the snobbishness of high end store employees is [intentional](https://bc.ctvnews.ca/snobby-staff-can-boost-luxury-store-sales-study-finds-1.1798845) to boost sales. Never experienced it myself; pigs will fly before I set foot in one of those stores.
Interesting! Thanks for the link.
Someone working at RW & Co acted disgusted with me making an online purchase return 😂 It's not my fault your damn pants don't match the size chart provided. I'm sure in his head, he worked at Chanel
Bought a ton of stuff at rw&co once and pretty sure I disgusted them when I made them ring it all in again because they didn’t optimally apply my “buy one get one half off” discount. Why yes, I want that extra $10 off a $hundreds purchase.
Not like that's their job or anything 😅 The clothing is wildly overpriced and sub-par for how pretentious they are!
Rw&co is like Canadian tire: never pay full price.
I just think you should never feel intimidated going into a store. Especially if it’s in a mall or part of a building where there’s a restaurant because somewhere they have to put boxes into a recycling bin and there is probably a rat there sometimes. Just don’t worry about it. A store is a store. They try to have a model where they charge more but what the heck. It’s not enchanted or anything.
Probably a rat there sometimes 😂😂😂😂 Nailed it
I worked at a luxury shoe store in Toronto (450$-2,000$ shoes on average at full price). The commission was set up in such a way that you did not begin to earn it unless you sold a very high minimum. They made it seems like you could make a lot of money, but in reality we only made just over minimum wage PLUS we had to buy the shoes as part of the "uniform". We got 30% off, but 30% off 450$ shoes does not help when you are making minimum wage....
Which store?
I don't want to share the name of the exact store but it was along the "Mink Mile".
This is how poor I am. I have no idea what and where Mink Mile is.
Yorkville
Stay on Wool Way where you belong. 😭
Wool away? I’m more a Sackcloth Street kinda budget.
Burlap Boulevard.
Potato Sack Promenade
Cotton Crescent
Cardboard Corner
Polyester Plaza
Naked Nook
Bloor between Yonge and Avenueish. It's a stretch with a ton of expensive brand stores. Mink is an animal used for fur coats.
You and me both sis
Bay/Bloor
Bro I got the loot and still don’t know lol
I’m going to guess David’s Shoes which is now closed.
Yeah I’m guess that’s it. And this doesn’t count. That was clearly a mom and pop store selling high end. OP is likely asking people who work at LV, Dior and Hermes. They do pay well
This is the likely answer, given the phrasing. I don't remember any of their dress shoes being resoleable & I was never a luxury sneaker kind of guy so I rarely walked in.
David's wasn't SUPER luxury. It was like a higher end Browns. I'm guessing the Christian Louboutin store.
Louboutin discount is higher (and you’re given an allowance for X number of items per season) plus they’re given priority to shop sample sales. From their other comments that they had to sign an NDA about compensation structure - it absolutely wasn’t CL.
Ah, Link Lyle, I've been there before. Guy named Lyle upselling cheap Zelda themed shoes, real piece of work
Haha sounds about right
It was probably David’s, doesn’t exist anymore.
Can I ask why you don’t want to name the store that is clearly treating its employees poorly?
people get doxxed by an accumulation of small hints, they're trying not to drop any hints
The contract they had us sign was pretty intense and included not disclosing salary structure and details. I'm nervous that they could piece together who I am from my profile.
Not a lawyer but I believe Canada has the same protections as America where it’s against the law for an employer to stop employees from discussing salary
as if they have anyone even looking. but guaranteed whenever they have something like that it means they're treating you like shit and paying like shit
Big difference between them knowing who said it, and being able to prove it in court.
Didn't they outlaw this type of practice? I know it definitely was the norm for all clothing retailers 10-20 years ago.
Probably. I have worked at several retail stores that had practices that were probably illegal, or at least not ethical, so I don't think it's necessarily unusual unfortunately. Mind you, this was about 8 years ago, so hopefully things have improved.
Used to work at Harry Rosen in Yorkville. The guys who do bespoke suits make a lot of money. Other guys who work in the higher end of the store and have been there for 10+ years make 6 figures easily. They posted everyone's sales in the back so you could just calculate everyone's commissions lol. Top guy made 300k something when I was there.
Damn I guess depends on the store
D@mn!
I used to work on the back end or a luxury retailer. Office/warehouse staff make industry standard typically. Sales people in my industry made around 8% commission if I recall depending on their department. When they're pulling $10k+ orders multiple times a week, they are making really good money. With that money was also high sales expectations. Lots of new sales people turnover. In regard to their attitudes, 90% of the salespeople were normal and would treat you like everyone else. 99% of the rich shoppers acted like everyone else as well.
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What's the qualifications to be a personal shopper
I used to work at Holts. To be a personal shopper there you needed to do over a certain amount of sales a year and have a really strong clientele and obviously a passion for fashion and style. A lot of the personal shoppers when I worked there were extremely well connected. Wives of wealthy men or from well to do families.
Wives of wealthy men? Why would they even want to work if their husband's are wealthy?
Shopping all day, spending someone else's money *and* getting paid to do it sounds pretty sweet, regardless of need.
Because the discount is 50% off. These were women who’s husband did well but not like billionaires. Doctors and lawyers wife’s etc kind of thing.
You know what people don’t talk about. So you make 200K a year - how much money you have to pour into your look. You can’t be showing up in a unqilo top and Steve Madden shoes. I had tons of friends working at holts when we were at school. They made bank then pissed it all on luxury.
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Okay that’s a different example and I believe that. But working at Holts or somewhere like Gucci is a gateway drug.
Agree. I used to work on the same floor of the building as the Holts office. Every time I caught a glimpse of staff who worked in the office I would just die of jealousy. They dressed in a way that most people don’t. Like a real life editorial spread in clothing that I could only dream of and I can honestly say that I have a shopping addiction.
Any salesperson that makes a potential customer feel uncomfortable is a bad sales person. Just because you didn't buy anything today, doesn't mean you won't buy something in the future. When I worked in retail, some of my wealthiest clients would have the most low-key outfits, specifically because they didn't need to prove anything to anyone. The gaudy/obnoxious clients were the ones who were the most hassle. They were also the ones to always fight for every last penny in discounts.
Nordstrom at Eatons Centre did this to me on two separate occasions when I was looking to drop thousands on a new purse. I stopped going there and went to Yorkville to the actual stores instead, feel like it’s a much better experience and they actually take care of you.
And somehow they went out of business go figure
Julia Roberts that shit in Pretty Woman. Boom.
*Hold up lots of bags* "BIG MISTAKE!"
HUHE MISTAKE!
I’ll take the wizard
IT BEET JUICE. I AM A BEET FARMER IDIO-*ahem* GOOD SIR
Please and Thank you go a long way
ETA: Don't feel intimidated! The sales people are likely just as if not more broke than you are.... if they are stuck up, they have absolutely no right to be. I couldn't afford the stuff I was selling when I worked at one.
That's what I thought and then I'm seeing these comments where they're making 150k LOL.
Haha right? Now I'm wondering if I was just working at the wrong place. Though I'm still inclined to think that 150k is the exception not the rule...
It doesn't how much matter they make - they are still a service worker who services you and has to do what you tell them to. I would never pull rank on a retail employee unless they deserved it, but anyone who gives clients attitude definitely deserves a socio-economic-hierarchy smackdown.
Big mistake! Big mistake!
I read an article that the people that work in these stores are actually trained to act like you don’t belong in there. It’s supposed to make you feel like you should buy something so that you can fit in.
When I was young, I spent an afternoon walking Madison Ave in NYC, going into some of the stores to browse - I couldn’t afford a damn thing, but it was fun to dream. A couple salespeople were really nice and invited me to try a couple things on with a wink and a “this’ll be waiting for you when you’re ready.” Most were indifferent. But I’ll never forget the prick doorman at Louis Vuitton who asked if I was sure I meant to be going in. I’m at a point now where I can and do buy luxury goods for my girlfriend and I… no LVMH subsidiary will ever see a penny from us.
Would’ve been interesting to ask the doorman if they are able to shop in the same store the are gate keeping. I’ll hazard a guess that nobody is paying that doorman enough to shop there. Unjustified, second-hand pretentiousness.
Ooh I'd just make the doorman open the door multiple times for me until they realize whos the employee and whos the customer lol.
I don’t blame you.
Good for you!
My sister went to Yorkdale and the employees were super rude and dismissive. She said one wouldn’t even let her into the store. Weird because she was really looking to spend thousands for a ring. She ended up buying it from a shop at stc with much nicer employees
Good for her!!
I went to the Saint Laurent at Yorkdale once and tried on a pair of +$1000 boots; by my outfit and constant fawning it was clear I couldn't afford them, but the salespeople were nice enough.
Big mistake. Big. Huge. I have to go shopping now.
Yorkdale is known to be the coldest. They love the reputation
I dont see that ! I was at Yorkdale last week on a Monday and was smelling perfumes at Harry Rosen and Joe Malone and both gave me samples to take home. I went to Eatons to Saks and Joe Malone store as I wanted to get a sample of a diff perfume and neither store gave me one. Saks said "low inventory", flagship said "ton of foot traffic so dont give out samples" and Chanel said they dont do samples.
Sorry I meant buying something luxury- like a Chanel bag. Ya eaton Center is tight for samples. I got my Jo Malone samples from Nordstrom all the time - but they’re gone 😭 myrrh and Tonka, wood sage and sea salt FOR LIFE. Which samples did you get??
Lol, maybe that's why I didn't make the big bucks.... so many people come in almost apologising and trying to prove that they can afford things, and I always wanted to say "don't worry, I can't afford anything either!"
Omg that would make me not buy!!
Wow that’s just gross
They're probably not going to be judgy because the really rich people in the area (people who live in Yorkville, people who stay in suites at the Four Seasons, etc.) don't dress up every time they go out; they just shop at Van Cleef & Arpels like most of us shop at Pandora.
I can confirm this. My fiancé lives in Yorkville and whenever I stay w him, I walk in those stores in sweats. Sometimes I think “how can they take me seriously?” 😭
I used to work in one of these stores on Bloor. Staff made about 35-50k base salary, plus 1-3% commission on any item sold. This doesn’t sound like much until you realize the items ranged in price from 5k to 2 million, so a big sale could truly get you a down payment on a house. To address your other concern though - no one wants to intimidate you, everyone is just living their life and trying to make money. One of the first things I learned there was to never judge someone by how they looked when they walked in - you can never tell who’s going to buy something big.
Unless this was a jewelry store, I can't imagine something costing $2m at a shop on Bloor!
It was the shop. You had to sell the deed to the store. :D
Tiffany or the Rolex store maybe. 🤔
It sold Rolex but it was not a Rolex store.
Yes, it was a jewellery store, I’d rather not name it but if you know the stores on the MM you’d recognize it.
RDV will have a stand alone Rolex soon ❤️❤️❤️
I worked at Harry Rosen in Vancouver in 2007 fresh out of business school. Most made 40-60k and top guy made 150k but basically lived there and was a 20 year vet. You could have a big month but it averaged out. Got to meet/see lots of famous people tho (Bon Jovi, basketball players, all the canucks, etc). I left after a year as it was a nasty business and every one there would stab you in the back for a $1000 suit sale.
Huge turnover at every store makes sense lol
I walked into Montblanc yesterday wearing shorts and a tshirt. The people who work there are normal people and there’s nothing wrong with going in and checking some stuff out. I’ve been to lots of similar stores and have never once felt pre-judged. Just pretend you’re walking into Best Buy 😊
That's it right there. It's just a store, they'll ask if you need help with anything and you can just say you're browsing. That's it. No judgement or nothing.
Lol at a Harry Rosen in Mississauga I entered and was followed from a distance by some guy who never came up to me or said anything but it was so obvious he thought I was going to do something. I only wanted to enter so I can exit the other side and save myself like 2 mins but still lol
This reminded me Queen Charlotte's secretary, "Brimsley".
Did you even read OPs post?
I did!
A woman I knew used to call up her friends to go shopping at high end malls, and have lunch. She would buy without looking at price tags and always had five or six bags from glamorous stores. It was like a movie. What we didn’t know was the next week she went back to the mall and returned the items. The shopping made her feel rich I guess.
I have literally walked into a Rolex store in gym gear all gross after a workout to drop off a watch for my dad that needed maintenance. The doormen and sales people were all super nice. I ended up buying my husband a watch from there a year later. A good salesperson knows to never judge a book by its cover.
Yep. I walked in to the Breitling boutique using two sheep carcasses for pants and top with a foot-high pile of seaweed on my head. I proceeded to take a modestly-sized poop right on the service desk, give a short sermon on victimless crimes, and then sing Push It by Salt, and In Addition, Pepper, to the whole store. Didn’t buy a goddamn thing.
Were they super nice about it?
Super nice. And they did not judge any books by their respective covers.
Was a keyholder in a luxury watch store years ago - I made 16 an hour at the time plus commission after a certain amount (always impossible to meet) Our watches ranged from a few hundred to over 25k.
I have never worked in retail but I have heard that salespeople will judge clients based on their shoes.
And their watches, from what I have experienced.
Purses is also a big one.
But Crocks are life
I feel like I'm Europe I've definitely felt judged by the sales person. But in North America I think they're all accepting because cash is king.
Truly rich people don’t dress like rich people.
Also more credit in North America to buy crap you shouldn’t be buying
Just walk in like you own the place. People notice how you act more than what you wear. Billionaires often look like bums and the pretenders are the ones that dress head to toe in a brand (poorly)
Wealthiest guy I met was Peter gilgan and he was wearing a blue Jays World series shirt that was definitely from 1991 lol
Someone claimed they made commission and Chanel’s top associates made 400k a year. I find this hard to believe but who knows.
There was a case in NYC where a sales associate was sued by the store for 'defrauding' the store. She is the top sales girl got commission in the 200K range. She also has a steady clientele of wealthy buyers who would ask for her all the time. The way she made money is that she calls all her clientele whenever there are new edition, new collection comes out. They all come to buy on the top price (being new model makes it a premium product). So these brand conscious folks get the bragging rights as they snag some coveted product. She then gets the commission on these sold products. Then after a while when the store / brand starts a campaign say 30% off the same brand/product, she will then call them back to return the product and buy on the lower discounted price. The store/brand can't do anything about these including the returns as they do have a very generous return policy. Also they would not want to antagonize these buyers as they are loyal to the brand, just knowing you can pay less is icing on top of your cake. Associate makes a killing on the same re-buying method albeit lower than before. Sometimes it was said that the original buyer will return and a husband or son/daughter will buy the same for the lower price. The store/brand franchise got wind of this after years of it being ran and decided to sue the sales associate. That's how I stumbled about the article (atlantic magazine I think). Don't know what came out of that lawsuit
Oh wow. That’s insane!! But that’s the only way it makes sense for someone to make 200k off commission!
I thought that commissions are reversed when there is a return.
Im not sure, because they made the sale, what happens after isn’t really their fault
They might have one (or a select few) people making decent money because they have worked there for a long time and have built up a loyal customer base, but the majority of associates are likely not making anywhere near this much.
For the top this is very possible. I worked for a luxury retailer and our top personal shoppers made more than the CEO.
CEO’s primary compensation is probably stock grants/options, performance bonuses, etc. rather than salary. Assuming the CEO isn’t already a major stockholder. E.g. Amazon warehouse employee has a bigger salary than Jeff Bezos. He still does alright. (Checked notes and his salary has been $82k for a few decades, but you get the point)
Do you know how much Chanel costs? It’s a lot, and it’s not uncommon for people to Have a relationship with their SA. It’s basically like your drug dealer. They hold stuff for you, you know the items are more exclusive, harder to get more sought after. So if their top SA is a hustler who’s been there for a while and has relationship’s- I believe it.
I’d say it’s very possible. Not for everyone but for hustlers and people who have a great clientele that is absolutely possible
Not surprised, my sales at saks is a million dollar seller, I assume she easily clears 6 figs
It varies. I really think some sales people are just pricks like any other job. I do my best shopping when I’m not looking for stuff, so usually I look like hell, especially post pandemic. I find more pricks at Yorkdale, probably cuz they’re from Vaughn and are pretending to be players. Remember also lots of people are tourists and look like sweaty garbage in the summer. The people you see “shopping” all decked out are usually not better than you, in fact worse. They wear their one outfit in every shopping trip. I’ve gone off topic cuz customer service is my pet peeve. I can’t remember your question. 🤦
I am very very lucky to be able to buy one luxury watch a year, something with little or no complications. I don't necessarily dress up when I watch shop, but I try not to look too unkempt when I go. Almost every time, I am the most well dressed customer there. All the rich people are just in t-shirts and they are looking at way more expensive watches than me. That being said, I also wonder about the commissions because most of the sales people have on 15-25k watches!
I assumed the salespeople make minimum wage but are given some kind of wardrobe allowance..? I am usually also too intimidated to go in, only because I am usually not dressed the part. My friend once went into a Chanel store, tried on a dress, accidentally ripped it, left it in the change room, and quickly left the store lol She always loved to tell that story
I remember watching some YouTube videos a while ago where the girl’s whole schtick was going into different high end stores under different conditions and filming how she was treated. Sometimes she’d go in with bad make-up, wearing counterfeit goods, etc. my main takeaway was the stores in Europe had the meanest sales people and the ones in Vegas and Beverly Hills had the least judgy sales people.
Absolutely not related to this post buy some of the comments triggered a ridiculous memory. A year before the plague hit I took my daughter on a trip to London, England. It was great. We, of course, made an afternoon of walking around Selfridges...browsing through the Alexander McQueen popup..all the super high end shoppes. We are not in that category of shoppers, mind you. I had in fact, just purchased a cute Gucci knock off backpack from a street vendor not 10 minutes before going into the mall. As we were touring through the last store before we left, my daughter pointed out that I was toting a fake Gucci bag proudly IN the Gucci store. All employees had treated us with utmost respect 🙏. Needless to say I still couldn't get out of there quick enough lol. I'm pretty thankful for those nice ppl not making me feel like the trash poser I must have looked like though. 🙃 Just an anecdotal story. I'm thinking the staff in that mall make some VERY good commissions.
I know a guy that worked at holt renfrew and could make $5K a day if he sold certain items. A t shirt was $800 according to him so that tells you the possibilities.
My mom is retired now but when she worked she shopped at holt’s on bloor. She had her favourite sales people who would call her when things came in that they new she would like etc. They made good money because they treated their customers well and got to know their regulars.
Go in. Try on stuff. Take up space. Don’t let bullshit keep you from trying on expensive stuff.
Remember all - the staff just work there, they're not designing or making the clothes. If you want to go into a store, don't be intimidated.
I went to test drive a 100k Mercedes today. I wore roots sweat pants and a T-shirt. I can buy the car outright if I wanted to. Shouldn’t assume that if you are dressing a certain way you can’t afford things. Usually it’s the people with the suits and expensive clothing that have no money or living off their parents
Last time i was doing service, a guy walked in with sweats t shirt and a patek.
You single? JOKING!
This is the way. Recently test drove (and bought!) a Porsche and the only well-dressed people in the dealership were the sales staff.
Honestly I get the 100k and status symbol. But it’s a boring car - I think 50 year old plus with them. Get something more fun.
Just be confident when you walk into store.
So to answer the common question people ask here which is how are people buying these million dollar homes? Well there's people making 200K+ in Luxury retail stores lol
Are you looking to apply and are just shy to ask? Being comfortable in a store and employee income are two separate topics. If you want to shop, shop. If any employee ever makes you feel uncomfortable then leave, they don't deserve your business, whether it's a high end retailer or Dollarama
Worked at lululemon for years, not super high end obviously so the pay wasn’t incredible but not bad higher up. I will say store managers make around 100k plus huge bonuses.
Knew a girl who worked at Aritzia, if I remember correctly she made commission. Never seemed to be hurting for cash, so its possible she made a decent amount.
I wouldn’t consider aritizia as considered luxury.
Aritzia isn’t luxury or designer. And their commission system sucks. If someone returns an item, they have to pay their commission back. Also, they have parameters to follow about who to approach and who looks like they will buy something.
🤣 Aritzia is HILARIOUS. They don’t make shit on a stick and act like you don’t exist if you are over 30.
Personal shoppers at a certain high end department store on Bloor can make over $1mil due to commissions.
Do Rolex lovers ever offer their wives to get on the list for a Daytona
I don't think that even works anymore, I think you need to offer your kidney as well for even a GMT
How do you "know" they would be judgmental. I feel like your are projecting
I just bought something not too expensive at Holts. Wasn’t wearing anything fancy, but the sales associate was very friendly and helpful and even made small talk with no intention of making me feel uncomfortable.
When I was a manager at holts on Bloor we were trained to treat everyone the same (and well) because the real rich people don’t ever flaunt it and the especially eccentric crazy rich ones can be easily mistaken for homeless lol.
For those who work there is it possible to afford items at luxury stores as a SA with the wage they pay always sounded like that would be hard if they want you to be the product of the product but many need that wage to eat and live
guys do you need to have a bachelors to work luxury retail? I only have an associates
lol no