Plato’s Closet: What it’s like to work there.

I’ve mentioned this a few times before, but I work at the Plato’s Closet near me. If you have never heard of Plato’s, it is a resale shop; we buy and sell clothes made for teenagers and younger adults. They are open everyday, and we buy and sell clothes everyday as well. I’ve been working there for almost a year and a half now, and i’ve been able to move up at a pace i’m comfortable with. One thing is that as many people that sell with us, not a lot of people know how we do our jobs as well as what we do everyday. I would have loved to know exactly what a retail job includes before I got into it; so today that’s exactly what I’m gonna do.

The Back: So when you start working at Plato’s you start in the back where the fitting rooms are. In the back you learn all the basics of the store. You let customers into fitting rooms, you rehang things that they didn’t want, you tag items that have been purchased from customers, and sensor them as well. You have to answer the phone and you clear; which is when you put things back in the correct place on the floor. You also learn to clean bathrooms and the fitting rooms while you’re back here. This is one of the more simple jobs in the store and you’re usually back here every shift for anywhere from 2 weeks to a month. It all depends on how fast you pick up the skills. 

Cashier: After you master skills from the back, the manager or a shift lead will train you on the front. In the front, you basically cash customers out, as well as buys. That means that if they brought clothes in, you are telling them our offer and going through with the transaction. You have to properly scan, take discounts off, and enter the customer in our reward system, and then proceed to handle the cash or card payment, and bag the items. You are also in charge of signing in customers when they bring clothes into purchase! You’ll ask for their ID and all that jazz. 

You also have more closing duties than you do in the back. When closing you can be on the front, accessories, or the floor. When you close front, you just follow a checklist of cleaning duties, restocking things, and other tasks that make the store look presentable. If you close accessories, you go through and fill any gaps in shoes, make sure the purses are presentable and straight, check the sunglasses and jewelry for other messiness. This in my opinion is the one that takes the shortest amount of time most of the time. The last thing you can close if you’re in the front is the floor. So you’ll go through every rack and straighten anything, take out broken hangers, and try to spot anything that is in the wrong place and move it to the correct one. The floor can be good and it can also be a disaster depending on how busy it is.

Greeter: This is a relatively new position that a lot of stores have implemented because of COVID. At our store the greeter is almost always someone that has been there for a longer time/a shift leader, but sometimes it’s a newer employee. The greeter keeps track of how many people are in the store and monitors what buys can be brought in according to what the company says. They also help with anything else, hanging clothes, or sensor and tag baskets. They also answer the phone if the back is too busy.

Enterer: Now you’re getting to the positions that require more and more training. As an enterer, you go through items that are given to you from each buy and enter all the information into our computer system. You first inspect each item for rips, stains, and to see if it’s in good condition. You are the in depth employee for this process and need to look at all the small details. After you look for any imperfections, you enter into the computer system what the item is, what brand it is, and the condition. The computer will then generate the price that we put it on the floor as and the amount we give to the customer. After that you print out the offer for the customer and put it with the rest of the buys on the shelves. It doesn’t sound like a super hard job, but it can be time consuming depending on how many items you have to go through.

Sorter: This is the last step you can learn as a sales associate at Plato’s closet. At least some stores it is; others have you sort before you enter but at mine it’s the opposite. Sorting is when you go through each bin/basket that the customer brings in. You have to go through each piece of clothing and look at the style, condition and the tags. You then put them in a bin and hand it off to the enterer so they can continue finishing the process. You need to know what brands’ older tags look like as well as how sizing goes (If it’s kids or not). Plato’s tries to keep the tags on their clothes within a year or two of the mall’s tags. They can be older sometimes depending on if we really need the items in our inventory like guys items, but they are pretty strict on that rule. Usually the shift leader does this job, mostly because then they are easier accessible for other employees to get help from. 

All sales associates eventually learn everything listed above, it might take some time but you’ll learn when you’re ready or when the managers think you’re ready to learn! Above a regular sales associate is Shift Leaders. Shift leaders usually have been at the store for a longer period of time, but can be hired in or can train quickly. These people have mastered all of the skills above and proved to their managers that they deserve to move up the chain. Shift leaders have more responsibility as well, they have to place employees where they think they are best suited, manage how what they are closing and make sure they all stay on task. Training is another big part of being a shift leader, they make sure that all the sales associates are confident in doing what they are assigned to do for that day. Shift leaders have to go to the bank and get change as needed, count drawers at the beginning or end of the shift depending on closing or opening.

Above them are Assistant Managers and Managers, but honestly I really don’t know what they do yet. They do like payroll, and scheduling but beyond that I have little to no clue what they do on their daily. One thing that they both do is work on shopify. Shopify is our online store, where we upload different items daily for national and local shipping or pickup. They have to monitor what we’re uploading and seeing if they sell whether in store or online! 

Overall working at Plato’s is super fun. They work with your schedule, and help you do what you need to do to succeed. You get a great discount working there as well, 10% on vendor items, 20% on anything resale. I basically have gotten a whole new wardrobe from working there and I’ve grown in my passion for fashion. I can’t wait to move up in this company and learn more over the next few years! 

If you guys have any other questions about working at Plato’s closet I would love to answer them! Just DM me on instagram @LifeWithTaylorG_!

Ever Forward, LifeWithTaylorG 

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