retail supervisor

retail sales associate

store manager

warehouse worker

retail team leader

Kiltane-Limited

It was my first retail experience (I worked in hospitality before) but I received a very warm welcome from everyone. The team is really the big plus. It was supposed to be a temporary job for me but I decided to stay for a little while because of that. Everyone help each other and invite you for after work drinks sometimes which makes it even more fun and enjoyable.
In terms of management, there aren't proper managers in shops (just 2 out 9 shops), then supervisors and keyholders who are managing the daily tasks.
The area manager and his assistant are your first point of contact which can be quite intimidating but they are fine and actually cool once you know them more. 
I appreciated having rota 4 weeks in advance ( not the case in hospitality).
The work itself is very busy and I found it stressful at times, because of the staff shortage. Sometimes, you will get a tour group and it was overwhelming (saying that coming from hospitality so that gives you a hint) but the area manager or his assistant always came or sent help. The company has different type of shops and I enjoyed experimenting most of them which was great. During my stay I felt the head office wasn't great help for anything and threw more work into a team with obvious shortage during busy time.

At my interview I was shown the scale of kiltane and it was impressive, I was told after the summer that an expansion of the store was to happen and I was going to be apart of it and involved. I accepted the job thinking I was to be listened and heard to about my opinions, thinking my experience and time in the relative field was something that Kiltane would respect. Boy was I wrong, I was cut out of all decisions, I was managed on instead being worked with. The only point I felt appreciated was during the summer and the fringe festival and that was only because we were making lots of money for them. 
You will love the people in your store but I ended up avoiding any interaction with kiltane itself because of how they made me feel on a daily basis, small and inconsiderate. 
If you need a job this is great for you if you love being on the lowest minimum wage. Kiltane net worth was £10,722,894.00 in 2021 and most likely substantially higher now. I've worked in smaller companies that pay there basic employees better salaries than they do here.
I hope this review will help anyone deciding if they want to work here, Everybody can find something better than this 


I always worked in Hospitality where in general people are treated as a slave but in this company was even worse!
The doors are always open during winter time and they ask you to wear a Kiltane’s fleece ! So ugly and useless because it was very cold. 
Nepotism and unfair dismissal are very common, people disappear as a magician process . Interested and unbelievable nowadays that there is a family member that work there that for now was us to put in trouble all the colleagues that they were doing their job just for her laziness, her lies and her spoiled behaviour.
I gave the notice after 5 months because it is a company without values, vision , run by a private owner that he is very incompetent and arrogante .
Minimum wage , no bonus , no human being treatment from the HR manager .
 She is doing what the boss is asking to do. 

If you are looking for a nice environment and a interesting job this is not the right place .

After almost a decade in the hospitality industry I was nervous to apply for a job in retail because of the horror stories you hear of unpleasant working environments. However, from the first interview I felt a very positive vibe and when I actually began working in the store I instantly felt welcomed and received comprehensive training. The company in general are also extremely supportive of the staff and the head office team are approachable and always make an effort to accommodate for my needs where possible. I’ve held many positions over my time and I can honestly say that my role working for Kiltane is up there with my favourites. Would and have recommended the company to family and friends. If there’s anyone like me who has never worked in retail before but desires a change of pace, Kiltane is a wonderful company to grow with.

A typical day at work involved folding scarves hundreds of times and repeatedly cleaning the shelves just to appear busy, along with hoovering the floor and emptying rubbish boxes every evening - otherwise, you would get into trouble.

The only thing you really learn at the London Museum Street store is how to pretend to look busy every hour of the day.

Workplace culture was almost non-existent.
Staff turnover was extremely high, with employees leaving every few months, so the company was constantly recruiting new people, mostly part-time students.

The hardest part of the job was dealing with the area manager in my experience, his behaviour in the workplace was highly unpredictable. 


With my short time there it seemed as though the only people that were happy to be there were those that matched the manager's childish, rude and two faced behavior. And and those who just wanted to get the work done. 

There were times where the manager was rude in the way he spoke to staff. Seeming to always take out his frustrations on others with random comments or at some point snatching things off people.

Some of the stuff were very two-faced and would talk about you behind your back. Or would also it deliberately try and exclude you and make the environment very uncomfortable. Making it clear that you weren't really welcome in their environment. 

As a new employee I was not welcomed or given any direction to what were my duties. I was given no training and had to ask for the handbook 3 times before  I received it. I was told by the manager it was of no use and that she had not even looked at it. There were hardly any customers coming into the shop. Somedays 3 in total. Any suggestion that we should try and attract a few customers was dismissed..All in all a very depressing environment I would not recommend this company to anyone. The job is being advertised every 3 months. Very strange. On leaving it was hard to get the money that was due to me. Eventually I got something but underpaid. Headquarters in Edinburgh were very evasive.

Head office don't care about the staff. No holidays are allowed to be taken between 15th July and 15th September as they said it's "the busiest time of the year" in a scarf shop! Wasn't told about this in the interview.

They pay you whenever they want, not paid on the same date every month.

They give you very little time to prepare for sale launches. They have an "open door" policy so you're frozen during winter, heaters don't work very well. It's a very expensive shop so it's not a busy environment. 90% of the time you're folding scarves and jumpers all day.

It's very hard to find things to do. Yet when you do put a lot of effort in and work really hard there's no appreciation for it, get no thanks whatsoever.

Wouldn't wish this job on my worst enemy.

I loved my time at kiltane and worked my way up to manager over time. 
I had amazing staff working with me who were extremely reliable.
Unfortunately however the newly promoted area manager at that time was quite negative and made my staff feel uncomfortable, and despite bringing it up several times with HR etc we were ignored and we felt we were not allowed back to our positions after the pandemic due to her decision which she had also made clear to fellow shop managers in the area. Such a shame really as we had a great hard working team in york! 

Kiltane is a great place to develop customer service and people management skills. At Kiltane you are encouraged to be assertive, confident and responsible. The best thing about Kiltane is the constant support and help from Managers and colleagues; I enjoyed my time at Kiltane (Edinburgh) because of the highly supportive and friendly team mates and colleagues. 
If you are a looking for a place to build you customer service, knowledge base in retail and fabric/textiles while making good money and having a good time, then Kiltane is the place for you. 

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Retail supervisor 22 salaries reported	£14.25 per hour
Retail sales associate 39 salaries reported	£13.03 per hour
Store manager 7 salaries reported	£32,143 per year
Warehouse worker 1 salary reported	£12.75 per hour
Retail team leader 5 salaries reported	£23,000 per year

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