The good and the bad of being a Store Manager - Store Manager Walgreens Employee Review

4.0
Oct 5, 2008
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good opportunites for becoming a store manager; above average salaries for store managers of retail chain pharmacies, profit sharing is well above industry average with regards to matching. Store technology is overall very good - hiring and training systems, pharmacy management systems, inventory tracking systems are all excellent, with POS systems lagging far behind other retailers. The rumors are the POS systems will be overhauled in the next few years.

Cons

Lack of opportunities above store manager level; preferences for promotion to DM position generally given to minorities and females. The company is still growing at a fast clip but store support is dwindling as the chain grows (i.e. more stores in each district, payroll being cut to dangerous levels, district staff spread too thin among too many stores, etc.). Hourly wages for store staff (clerks, photo techs, and beauty advisors) are very low compared to other retailers but competitive with other drugstore chains. Very hard to attract good talent when all you can offer someone is $7.50/hour. District Managers do not support giving store clerks anything above a 3% yearly raise, so turnover is high.

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5.0
Jun 9, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

great place to work for part-time

Cons

limited hours for work , unpridicted demand of the job

3.0
Jun 25, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Can be a fun environment. All in whom your staff is. Operating photo was fun and building projects for the customers. Learning about pharmacy operations.

Cons

Work life balance and low pay for what is expected. Not having enough payroll to effectively run a store. My store ran FE on a 320 hour a week budget. That was barely enough to get buy and meet the expectations put out by the company. I was never able to keep a full leadership staff. When a leader called out, I had to stay. There were days I was called away from my own dinner table. SM's were forced to be in the pharmacy for more than half of their day regardless as to what is happening in the FE. I worked over 50 hours a week and barely got to spend time with my family. If I wasn't at the store I was getting a phone call and having to go back to the store.

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