Supportive work environment but energetically taxing - Key Holder Topdrawer Employee Review

Working at Topdrawer has allowed me personal and professional growth through their cultivation and investment into their people. You truly get what you put in to the role. They encourage entrepreneurialism and foster community with the clientele and the teams. The clients and the employees are bonded through the love of creativity and analog tools. Topdrawer stores feel like a community. If you’re a self-starter you will thrive in this environment.

At times, working for Topdrawer feels like working at a startup company with many processes and operations not ironed out. There will be drastic changes and challenges to overcome. Upper management is often unavailable or don’t have all the answers to store level challenges.

Topdrawer sells a lot of great products and it’s fun to learn and inform customers about them. The key holder pays starts a little above minimum wage (not by much). You get 1% commission on all of your sales. Day to day work is usually rewarding.

There are no annual raises and they say there’s room for growth but there isn’t. they really try to differentiate themselves from other companies but at the end of the day, they’re a corporation. They claim to be a small business but I think they use that to write off poor behavior and stiff their employees. There is the minimum sick pay but otherwise no benefits. No health insurance and no vacation hours. They keep everyone at part time and managers are constantly under pressure to stick to a tiny budget. They use AI for most things now which undermines their message about artistry and environmentalism, like they have AI making their artwork for them. There are worse companies to work for, Topdrawer just isn’t that much better and they’re hypocritical.