Retail Sales Associate - Full Time Shoe Dog

Job Description

Job Description

Sales Associate / Footwear Specialist

Chiappetta Shoes is hiring a long-term Sales Associate who wants to build a real career in the footwear world.

We’ve been crushing it in-store this year, and it’s time to add another strong player to the team.

This is not just a retail sales job. This is a career opportunity in one of the most unique footwear businesses in the country. Chiappetta Shoes has been family-owned since 1921, and we are still growing because we do things the right way: high-touch service, expert fitting, real problem-solving, and a personal customer experience that people remember.

Around here, we like to say: “Old-school dudes with new-school shoes.”

That means we believe in traditional customer service — shaking hands, remembering names, solving problems, and taking pride in the work — while also building a modern footwear business with e-commerce, digital marketing, social media, custom orthotics, in-house manufacturing, and national growth ahead.

We are looking for someone who can sell and sell well , but also someone who wants to learn the footwear business from the ground up.

What This Role Is Really About

At Chiappetta Shoes, the client–salesperson relationship is a problem–solution interaction .

People don’t come to us just because they need “a pair of shoes.” They come to us because their feet hurt, their work boots failed them, their inserts aren’t working, they need comfort, they need support, or they’re tired of wasting money on the wrong footwear.

Your job is to listen, learn, guide, educate, and sell the right solution.

We expect our sales team to bring:

• Strong communication skills
• Confidence and charisma
• A professional appearance
• A genuine interest in helping people
• A willingness to learn
• Energy, imagination, and hustle
• The ability to contribute to the company, the team, and the community

We are not looking for someone who wants to stand behind a counter and wait for the day to end. We are looking for a Shoe Dog — someone who wants to grow with us.

Responsibilities

• Sell footwear, inserts, socks, accessories, and related products
• Deliver high-touch customer service with a personal, memorable approach
• Learn proper shoe fitting, foot assessment basics, and product knowledge
• Help customers find solutions for comfort, work, lifestyle, and foot pain needs
• Assist with daily marketing initiatives and in-store promotional efforts
• Help create simple social media content, product videos, photos, and behind-the-scenes moments
• Support digital marketing efforts by identifying great customer stories, product highlights, and sales floor opportunities
• Assist with checking in daily shipments
• Maintain clean, sharp, professional shoe displays
• Operate the cash register and POS system
• Help with detailed inventory work
• Keep the sales floor clean, organized, and ready for customers
• Bring ideas, energy, and a positive attitude every day

Bonus Skills We Love

You do not need to have all of these, but these are a big plus:

• Previous retail sales experience
• Footwear, apparel, outdoor, workwear, medical, or customer service experience
• Comfort with social media, video, photography, or basic content creation
• Interest in marketing, e-commerce, Shopify, Klaviyo, Meta, Google, TikTok, or digital advertising
• Strong writing or communication skills
• Interest in health, wellness, biomechanics, orthotics, or helping people with foot pain
• A desire to become a Certified Pedorthist

A Real Career Path: Pedorthics

One major bonus for the right person is the opportunity to grow into the world of Pedorthics .

Chiappetta Shoes does custom orthotic manufacturing in-house, which means there is a hands-on manufacturing side of the business along with patient management, footwear fitting, medical referrals, and long-term client care.

Pedorthics is becoming a rare skill, and shops like ours are thriving because people still need real service from real experts. We help people walk better, feel better, work better, and live life more fully.

For the right person, this can become a career path into the footwear, medical, orthotic, and patient-care world.

Why Chiappetta Shoes?

Chiappetta Shoes has been in business for over 100 years, and we do not take that for granted.

We are a 4th-generation family business with major initiatives ahead, including:

• Continued in-store growth
• A stronger e-commerce website
• Expanded product categories
• Bigger digital marketing efforts
• Custom orthotics and in-house manufacturing growth
• National opportunities in footwear, inserts, and foot pain solutions

We need motivated, energetic, detail-oriented people to help make that happen.

Schedule

Chiappetta Shoes offers great working hours with:

• No Sundays
• No late evenings
• A strong team environment
• A chance to build a long-term career

Who Should Apply?

Apply if you are:

• A strong communicator
• Competitive in a healthy way
• Friendly, sharp, and dependable
• Interested in sales, service, footwear, marketing, or healthcare
• Willing to learn
• Comfortable talking to people
• Proud of doing things the right way
• Ready to be part of a company that is growing while still respecting its roots

This is a great opportunity for someone who wants more than a job. We are building something special, and we need the right people on the floor to help us keep winning.

If you’ve got hustle, heart, and a sharp eye for detail — we want you on the squad.

Apply today and help us make foot pain fear us.

Chiappetta Shoes is a fourth-generation, family-owned shoe store, pedorthic practice, and custom orthotic laboratory in Kenosha, Wisconsin. We have served our community for over 100 years, but we are not interested in acting like an old, sleepy shoe store.

We help people move better, feel better, and live better through better footwear, better fit, and real problem-solving. Our customers come to us for foot pain, hard-to-fit feet, work boots, comfort footwear, diabetic concerns, custom orthotics, and honest expert guidance.

We are proud to have been recognized locally and nationally, including being named one of the top comfort shoe stores in the country and voted Kenosha’s Best Shoe Store year after year. But awards are not the mission. The mission is trust, service, expertise, and doing right by people.

What makes Chiappetta different is the combination of old-school customer service and modern ambition. We still believe in measuring both feet, listening carefully, understanding the customer’s problem, and offering a real solution. At the same time, we are growing through ecommerce, content creation, AI-assisted marketing, custom orthotic manufacturing, social media, video, email, SEO, paid advertising, and national brand building.

At our core, we are people-people. We believe in confidence, pride, compassion, and empathy. Confidence comes from knowing what you are talking about. Pride comes from offering great solutions. Compassion means caring enough to listen. Empathy means asking whether the solution would be good enough for your own mother.

We are looking for difference makers — people with a chip on their shoulder who want to build, create, solve, learn, and grow. We want people who respect the history of a 100-year-old business but are excited to help push it into the future.

We are Shoe Dogs. That means we care about the product, the customer, the craft, and the details. We pay attention to what is happening in footwear, retail, marketing, technology, and culture. We are creative because we are knowledgeable. We are competitive because we care.

Technology is a major part of where we are going, but it will never replace the human side of what we do. AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude should make us faster and sharper, but the heart of the business will always be people helping people.

Being part of the Chiappetta Crew is both a responsibility and a privilege. We run with a tight crew. We care about each other, our customers, our community, and winning the right way.

If you want to coast, hide, or wait to be told what to do, this probably is not the place.

If you want to build something, make an impact, honor a proud tradition, and help take a legendary local business to the next level — welcome to Chiappetta Shoes.

#AintNoBettaThanChiappetta

Company Description

Chiappetta Shoes is a fourth-generation, family-owned shoe store, pedorthic practice, and custom orthotic laboratory in Kenosha, Wisconsin. We have served our community for over 100 years, but we are not interested in acting like an old, sleepy shoe store.\r\n\r\nWe help people move better, feel better, and live better through better footwear, better fit, and real problem-solving. Our customers come to us for foot pain, hard-to-fit feet, work boots, comfort footwear, diabetic concerns, custom orthotics, and honest expert guidance.\r\n\r\nWe are proud to have been recognized locally and nationally, including being named one of the top comfort shoe stores in the country and voted Kenosha’s Best Shoe Store year after year. But awards are not the mission. The mission is trust, service, expertise, and doing right by people.\r\n\r\nWhat makes Chiappetta different is the combination of old-school customer service and modern ambition. We still believe in measuring both feet, listening carefully, understanding the customer’s problem, and offering a real solution. At the same time, we are growing through ecommerce, content creation, AI-assisted marketing, custom orthotic manufacturing, social media, video, email, SEO, paid advertising, and national brand building.\r\n\r\nAt our core, we are people-people. We believe in confidence, pride, compassion, and empathy. Confidence comes from knowing what you are talking about. Pride comes from offering great solutions. Compassion means caring enough to listen. Empathy means asking whether the solution would be good enough for your own mother.\r\n\r\nWe are looking for difference makers — people with a chip on their shoulder who want to build, create, solve, learn, and grow. We want people who respect the history of a 100-year-old business but are excited to help push it into the future.\r\n\r\nWe are Shoe Dogs. That means we care about the product, the customer, the craft, and the details. We pay attention to what is happening in footwear, retail, marketing, technology, and culture. We are creative because we are knowledgeable. We are competitive because we care.\r\n\r\nTechnology is a major part of where we are going, but it will never replace the human side of what we do. AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude should make us faster and sharper, but the heart of the business will always be people helping people.\r\n\r\nBeing part of the Chiappetta Crew is both a responsibility and a privilege. We run with a tight crew. We care about each other, our customers, our community, and winning the right way.\r\n\r\nIf you want to coast, hide, or wait to be told what to do, this probably is not the place.\r\n\r\nIf you want to build something, make an impact, honor a proud tradition, and help take a legendary local business to the next level — welcome to Chiappetta Shoes.\r\n\r\n#AintNoBettaThanChiappetta