A retail manager is the person ultimately responsible for the day-to-day operations of a retail store. All employees working in the store report to the store manager. As a rule the store manager usually reports to the district manager or in some cases the regional manager.

If you are someone who is a great problem solver, challenges the status quo, encourages new ideas, is positive, forward thinker, aware of goals and results and have exceptional conversational skills read on to see if a career path of a general store manager is the one for you.

Becoming a retail manager is not an easy task and takes time in order to achieve this well paying position. A retail manager is like any other career and if you choose to become one you must have great commitment and dedicate a lot of time to climbing the corporate ladder in a particular retail company.

Now I am not an expert in all retail management, just the convenience pharmacies/stores such as CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid, Duane Reade and Longs Drug Chain. There are a plethora of other retail companies that might have a different process of becoming a retail manager and this information might not be applicable. So without further ado here's how you too can become a retail manager and make a great career out of it.

First and foremost you must remember that the job of a retail manager is not an easy one. Before becoming a retail manager one has to start out either as a regular cashier, service clerk or an assistant manager. If you have college education and/or good amount of work experience, then you can get hired as an assistant manager right away and be a lot closer to becoming a retail manager. Rarely do large retail companies hire someone as a general manager right from the get go. First they would like to see how you work and if you can do a good job as one of the managers in charge of their store. The climb to become a retail manager is long and tedious one, but the financial rewards are well worth the climb.

If you start out working as a cashier or service clerk you will probably have to work for minimum wage and little or no benefits. You will often be required to work long hours that include weekends, nights and even holidays. All retail chains rely on cheap labor in order to make good profits. Places like CVS and Walgreens employ over a million workers and they can't afford to pay everyone high wages if they want to remain competitive and prosperous year after year.

The job of a cashier or service clerk is not particularly a hard one. Throughout the day you will be assisting customers and also helping assistant managers complete various tasks and projects. The tasks will vary from day to day but will most often include unpacking products from the stock room, building displays, rearranging shelves to place new products, cleaning the store and bathrooms, taking out the garbage and others..

If you develop a strong commitment to your job and show real dedication the manager will give you a raise and also make a note of your performance. If you have the desire to become an assistant store manager you can speak with the general manager right at the time when you get the promotion and ask him/her to promote you to the assistant manager if there are any open positions available. If the general manager feels that you are a qualified person for this job he/she will call the district manager and schedule an interview for you.

Once you have the interview with the district manager and get hired as an assistant manager you will get a very large promotion. Your salary will double or even triple and you will get all of the available benefits that the company offers. Most retail drug chains offer very excellent benefit packages and retirement plans. They realize that working as a retail manager is a very hard job and they reward their employees for their commitment and dedication.

While working as an assistant manager you will have great responsibility and numerous duties. An assistant manager of any retail establishment is basically the right hand of the general manager of the store. Usually there are several assistant managers and you get to share in your responsibilities of managing a store. Your responsibilities will include all cash handling, closing and opening the store, running the pharmacy with the help of a certified pharmacist, running the photo and cosmetics departments, managing all lower level employees, unloading delivery trucks, helping customers while at the same time making sure that your store is running smoothly and efficiently. It must be noted that this job is not for the faint of heart as it will require a lot of patience when dealing with customers all day long and solving various problems that arise throughout the working day. Furthermore you will be required to work long weeks that include weekends, nights and holidays with a lot of overtime hours.

As time passes by and you gain valuable experience of managing a store you will be due for a promotion of a general manager. You don't have to take the position of a general manager if you don't want to, but if you feel that the huge responsibility of managing your very own store is something for you then you should definitely go for it.

Before becoming a general store manager in most retail pharmacy companies you will need to pass a test to become a certified pharmacy technician and a general test on your knowledge of managing a store. While these tests are not too difficult they do require a certain degree of understanding the principles of pharmacy and store operations in order to pass them.

After becoming a general store manager the corporation will give you your very own store and you will be king of your own domain. Of course you can't just go and do as you please you have to follow certain company policies and guidelines and most importantly make sure that your store is organized and profitable.

As a general manager you will have even more responsibilities than before. You will be responsible for hiring, firing and promoting employees, ordering products, supervising the assembly of numerous promotional displays throughout the year, resolving complex customer problems, running the store from the back office and handling a lot of paperwork associated with your particular store. In order to get your job done effectively and efficiently you will have a few assistant managers that will be operating the store and completing the most essential tasks on a daily basis.

At this point you can make your own schedule and choose to work Monday to Friday taking most weekends off as you like. The best thing of being a general store manager is the ability to outsource any work that you don't like to your assistant managers (provided they know how to do it), after all they are the backbone of the store as you once were in that position yourself.

Being a general manager of pharmacy/convenience store such as Walgreens and CVS (the top 2 retail chains in the United States) is not too difficult, the most difficult part is getting there. Once you become the general manager of one of these stores you can easily expect to make close or well over $100,000 depending on the size of your store and also your bonus. In addition to receiving generous pay you will also get a comprehensive benefit package that includes a well structured retirement plan.

Putting a little money away into the retirement plan every pay check will allow you to comfortably retire from any retail company in a certain number of years.

Generally these retail chains always do good even in recessions and depressions. There will always be jobs available at these organizational establishments because the nature of the work is mostly physical and the work schedule is not the most convenient or accommodating, so few people want to do it.

The most important part to remember is that once you finally become the general manager of a retail store you will be the boss of your own domain and practically no one will be able to tell you what to do with an exception of your district or regional manager. These corporate managers will be visiting your store once in a while to make sure it is running in accordance with company policies and generating as much profit for the company as possible.

If interested in becoming a retail manager go out there and begin climbing the corporate ladder and in a couple of years you too will be one of those managers making the big bucks.