It has been a very rewarding experience and I have learned the ins and outs of the retail world.
Pros
Very friendly people to work for and with. It's an environment that changes on a daily basis and for someone who can't picture themselves at a desk job, retail is definitely the place for you. There are many rewarding experiences and if expressed you manager is generally supportive in you efforts to move up in the company. Overall it has been a perfect base to prepare me for larger volumes in the bigger cities.
Cons
Retail hours really aren't fun. Being the lone management team member without kids or husband/wife I often got the short end of the stick when I wanted to have a life too. There really doesn't seem to be a real work-life balance, that is if you want to get everything at work accomplished you are supposed to. Macy's is a FANTASTIC company to work for and really does have some positives but in the Midwest all the upperlevel management seems to be situated and not going anywhere... this makes it incredibly difficult for someone who is young and ambitious like myself. They also don't seem to truly value all the times you've proven yourself when an opening becomes available, if you haven't had direct experience in that business they won't trust you with it, but they feel perfectly comfortable moving you all over the store to other businesses if someone is out on LOA. Basically if you want to move up in the company the Midwest is NOT the place to be.