Pros
You get a really good discount (60% on brand new merchandise, 50-40% on everything else depending on your form of payment). Most of the employees at my store were older ladies who took this as a "fun job", and they were really nice. Management was very fair in terms of scheduling and were very stringent about making sure we got appropriate breaks during our shifts.
Cons
Our management was very concerned about making sales goals to the point of where we all but scared off customers- we were required to be really pushy with new merchandise, trying on extra items and opening charge cards (I HATE credit cards as they created a rather difficult financial situation for my family, and most Talbots shoppers are affluent/financially savvy enough to not open them anyways). My managers lived in fear of our regional manager, which really turned me off to the company. The organizational structure was such a mess, and communication between levels was poor. I was told that there would be room for professional advancement, but that was not evident at all when I began working.