Retail pay is, well, retail. You work very hard at the store level, and you're on your feet all day. That's something to get used to, even if you're used to retail. The stores' designs incorporate a lot of different materials, which mean that sometimes you're on lovely soft reclaimed wood floors, but sometimes you're on poured concrete. And the pace is often very fast (depending on the store location and season, of course). No matter what your job title is, expect to make stockroom runs, dust displays, sweep up messes, stock counters, and help customers find the restrooms. It's part and parcel of making the customer experience a great one.
For me personally, moving to Corporate was what I'd wanted, but my direct supervisor had a very dim view of work-life balance. It made my job much harder than it needed to be. Frankly, I'd have been a lifer at Crate if it weren't for that individual.
Another aspect of any retail position (and retail IT) is the need to work holidays, nights and weekends. Not every single one, necessarily, but it can be a downside. Retail IT means that you test and bring up new POS and ecommerce systems at really odd hours -- for example, coming in at 11 pm on a Sunday night and working until 10 or 11 in the morning; possibly later, to make sure that things came up right. And if you have kids who have school holidays, you may be expected to work those days and need backup care.
