It seems that there have been a lot of negative comments lately about the shopping experience at Walgreens. Everyone seems to have a story to tell, whether it’s a bad cashier, an uninformed manager, or no stock on the shelves.
In order to possibly alleviate some of the issues that many of you have been facing, I wanted to make you aware of the Walgreen’s Beauty Advisers.
The Walgreens career site states that it is a Beauty Advisers job to “build relationships with customers and create a loyal client base.” In addition, Beauty Advisers are paid commission on certain items they sell so they have much more to lose than a regular cashier. They want to help you and build that relationship with you because the more they sell, the more they earn. Therefore, they are almost always more coupon friendly than the regular cashiers, and will often do the multiple transactions that are required to maximize your deals. They also tend to be much more knowledgeable than the average cashier.
When shopping at Walgreens, the one recommendation I always make is to check out at the Beauty Counter with the Beauty Adviser. If you don’t see her there, ask the cashier or another employee to page her. Oftentimes the Beauty Adviser will even tell you about sales, offer you extra coupons, or give you inside information on new products. I know this may not be the case in every single Walgreens store, but if you shop at Walgreens and use coupons, I highly recommend that you get to know the Beauty Advisers in the store, and I think you’ll find that your shopping experience should improve as you build that relationship.
Stacy from Saving in Akron is the Deal Seeking Mom Store Expert for Walgreens. At Saving in Akron, she teaches her readers how to save more so they can live better.
Nilufer
I actually love ONE of the Walgreens near me. They do an excellent job, the whole staff. I make it a point to inform corporate when they go out of their way for me. The beauty advisor also keeps a mountain of organized coupons for customers to use.
Jenny
Great information! At one of the walgreens I shop at the Beauty adviser is great! I always go to her and she helps me with everything! At the other Walgreens the Beauty adviser needs to read her job description again. Anytime I ask her a question she gives short 1 answer responses and walks away. She doesn’t like couponers and it shows!
Clare
The beauty advisors at the Walgreens I frequent are terrific. I made it a point to fill out a survey and say so, too! There is one in particular who goes well beyond her job requirements. She was asking me about couponing, so I took her an extra insert. I think sometimes you will run into unfriendly employees (at any store) who will refuse to change. But it seems in my experience you catch more flies (and have less problems with coupons!) when you use honey instead of vinegar!:)
Robin
I agree! My Beauty Consultant, Ana, is fabulous. She puts stuff on hold for me, I can call her when I want to special order stuff… she even remembers my daughters name. I always try to go Sundays before church when I know she will be there!
Lisa
They never seem to have any Beauty Consultants working when I go to WAGS on Sunday at 8am. I have been shopping at Wags at least 6 to 7 years. I am not quite sure how much longer I will continue to shop there. It is Really frustrated going in at 8am the first day of the sale, Sunday, and finding empty shelves of sale items. I hear they line up at Midnight now. Crazy Extreme Coupon Show is to blame.
Jenny D.
Thanks for the interesting information. Now I know why the lady at the beauty counter is so helpful and friendly. She has been great to me from day one of “learning the ropes” and I’ll take the extra time to let her know I appreciate her.
Seth
Just a heads up…when you talk about going to Wags right when it opens on Sunday to find the shelves cleared…I was in Wags the other night picking up a few items and the shelves were marked with Sunday sale prices. I asked the manager if I would get the sale price of the items I was picking up with coupons. They told me yes because it was around 11pm…they close at midnight. So she also told me to shop late Saturday night to get the best deals and all the items in stock. So if there is something that you really wanna stock up on, try going later in the night on Saturday. Works for me and I don’t run into empty shelves. Hope this helps.
vicki
This is true for most walgreens stores. At the store I worked at the sale prices would ring up at 6pm the Saturday night before. The sale prices will work, but register rewards WILL NOT print.. and there is no way for the manager to manually print them out.
I was a beauty at wags for 2 years. We got commission on many beauty items. We also needed to ring up at certain number of customers every hour to keep our numbers high and our managers pleased.
Also- beauty advisors sometimes have free samples for customers that ring at their register!!
CJ
My Walgreens is a 24 hour store. The sale prices start at midnight but the RRs usually dont print until after 4 am.
Gladyis
I also am a Sr. Beauty Advisor and I LOVE coupons. I always have a ton of them for my guests, along with a print out of all the “deals”, newspaper inserts, and a variety of other information. I truely love my job and look forward to helping. My top number of transactions for one customer was 28! How fun!!
CJ
There is hardly ever any employee near the beauty counter when I go and I dont have time to track them down. The rare occasions when there has been someone there, they’ve been just as cranky and difficult as the regular cashiers. Maybe just my bad luck :(
Gladyis – I wish you worked at my Walgreens! There is no way I’d ever be allowed to do 28 transactions at my store. I try to do 2 and I they roll their eyes.
[email protected]
My beauty advisors are WONDERFUL!!! They are definitely the sweetest, most coupon-friendly employees in the store. I ALWAYS check out at the beauty counter. Have for years!
anne
Thanks for the tip. I didn’t know there was such a thing at Walgreens and will check into it. There is one woman in particular that is extremely friendly to me when I ask about coupons and stock. I wonder if she is the Beauty consultant?
andi
i love my 2 beauty advisors they always have the good deals set aside just one set incase she helps me find the best deals and saves me a few coupon books everything is so nice and clean and in the right place
Julie
I wondered why the makeup girl is so much more helpful than most Walgreen’s employees. I think they are getting a little better overall, but there is still one in my town I have been boycotting for the last year. (So coupon UNfriendly!)
Chum
Beauty advisor at my Walgreens is the worst out of all employee there. She always gives me a dirty look when I come in the store, and makes strange face when I pull out coupons.
renee
i will never go back in to sidneys walgreens after a few questions to the manager after some things that didnt ring up right and him calling me a liar and asking how do i know thats what happened as i showed him my receit and them calling corprate only so they can call and tell him to fix it witch he didnt and after that i get followed around the store i dont need to go back for that for any price
LIL LAURA
HI EVERYBODY JUST WANT TO LET U ALL KNOW THAT ALL WALGREENS IN THE VALLEY WILL NO LONGER HAVE THERE BEAUTY ADVISOR ASSISTANTS. THERE WILL ONLY BE ONE IN THE THE DEPT. AND THATS THE LEAD OF THE COSMETIC DEPT. I WORK AT THE ONE ON TRENTON AND 10TH I WILL NO LONGER ALWAYS BE IN THAT DEPT. BUT I WILL BE A CASHIER IN THE FRONT AND ON THE FLOOR DOING OTHER TASKS…BUT IF U ALL HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ON MAKEUP OR COUPONS REQUEST ME FOR HELP AND THELL PAGE ME ILL BE MORE THEN HAPPY TO HELP U…AND IF U ALL DO KNOW OF AN AWSOME EMPLOYE PLEASE CALL THE 1800# ON UR RECIEPT BECAUSE THATS HOW THEY PICK THE EMPLOYE OF THE MONTH THANK U….WELL ATLEAST AT MY STORE AND MY MANAGER TAKES THAT SURVEY REALLY SERIOUSLY:) I ALSO HAVE INSTAGRAM AND POST OUR MARKDOWNS OR AWSOME SALES…
Bri
I am a a cashier and a Beauty advisor(but for some reason my main position is cashier). I love helping people find deals and giving them extra coupons, they are really happy when I go out of my way to help them. The only thing I am kind of unhappy about is training, I have never had beauty training, only front. The first shift I did, I felt clueless. I would love to know more about the products, but no one has taken the time or I have to do other products. But I love my SBA :) I think she really loves helping customers and like to keep the department looking great.
Asha
I was a beauty adviser at wags for a few months before I started working third shifts. The store I worked at was, well…. There isn’t a nice way to put it. Not because of management but because of customers. Helping people pick fragrances and giving them coupons and talking to people is always nice. But if someone was in a hurry they’d be rude and rushing me. And I’m not sorry, but that’s not my problem. It is their problem if they are running late and act like they have no time to deal with waiting for an employee to come to the register in cosmetics to ring them up. They are late, they know they are late, yet they come in and shop anyways. We do a lot more in that department than stand around and look pretty. We are the ones stocking shampoo and making price tags and sometimes we are in the stockroom doing things. I can understand it happening a couple of times. But I did see the same people do it over and over, day after day. There was a lot more about this store that I didn’t like. But for the majority I loved being a beauty adviser. Now I’m not saying that is any excuse to be rude. In any customer service you will deal with demanding and rude people who feel the need to get on every last nerve. I’m just saying that most people don’t understand that if someone isn’t immediately at the register, they are doing another very important job somewhere else, but they should be glad to stop and help you.
claire
I am a beauty advisor at the walgreens in st.louis and i can tell you that this is very true. in addition, some of us but not all, butmyself especially are licensed cosmetologists meaning we have education and even wrok art time as hairstylists and makeup artists so please ask us questions. no questions are stupid! we are here to help and we love to help. ps. we know all the hidden deals, coupons, and product loopholes ;)
Jess
Yes yes yes I do agree with This post ! As a beauty advisor it is our job to be more personal and the cashiers job really isn’t to help you , they aren’t allowed to even leave their area ! It’s our job or the job of someone in customer service. There are days when I’m at my register with no line and people are up at the register waiting in a long line along with people asking the cashier questions ! Don’t be afraid to check out with a beauty advisor especially if u get cosmetic products which includes diapers and dental products and more and no matter if u don’t have cosmetics ! And since we are typically not the register with long lines , I’m always available to answer questions