History ComicStrip / Retail

* {{Jerkass}}: Stuart, often, but the district manager Jerry takes the cake.

* MyNameIsNotDurwood: One of the {{running gag}}s was that the district manager Jerry could never remember Marla's name, often calling her "Darla." Eventually it was revealed that he [[JerkAss only pretended to not know her name]]. After that he started calling her by her real name.

* SuperSlaveMarket: Grumbel's appears to be this.

The strip centers around an assistant manager named Marla Masters. While she's a good boss, she can't stand the bureaucratic nonsense set by the corporate offices, the intolerant and abusive customers, the ditzy and spacious employees, and the stigmas associated with retail workers. [[SarcasmMode Other than that, she likes her job.]]

* ArtEvolution: Most of the characters didn't change much in terms of appearance, but Stuart seemed to have gone through art evolution the most. Cooper's nickname for his boss, "Zucchini Head," makes more sense if you read the first few months of the strip.

** [[TheDitz Courtney]] is currently blackmailing Marla on overhearing that she's planning to open her own store. Her demands so far are to have all Friday nights and Saturday mornings off, a demand which Marla points out to Val is worth accepting since Courtney always calls in sick for those shifts anyway.

** In a storyline where Marla takes a vacation, Josh takes over for her and Stuart abuses his YesMan mentality to the point of even having him wash his hubcaps. When Marla comes back, Stuart lords over her that he intends to fire her and replace her with Josh...only to learn that Josh can't work management hours, and thus Stuart is forced to wash Marla's hubcaps to keep her from quitting.

** A number of recurring customers are referred to only by nicknames coined by the staff based on their obnoxious habits.

* OnlySixFaces: The main characters have distinct designs, but other people (customers and what-not) look very alike. Jerry, for example, looks like Cooper if he was older.
* PredatoryBusiness: The employees are affected by their retail jobs even when they're not on the clock.

* TokenShipping: Averted with Val and Cooper, but played with in a sequence where Copper is at risk of getting fired by Stuart because of a "no workplace romance" policy. Cooper solves this by introducing Stuart to Val's fake boyfriend, a black guy named Cooper.

** One character, Keith Sanzen, was based on a real person who won a contest to be in ''Retail''.

* UltimateJobSecurity: Cooper seems to have this despite being so being so openly insubordinate to the management and all his other antics on account that he runs stock and builds displays better than anyone.

** Massachusetts is likely, [[http://retailcomic.com/comics/august-3-2008/ based on the mall name]], there or Rhode Island.

* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Lunker's real name, Mel, was only mentioned once throughout the strip.

* IronicHell: Jasper Morley, in an obvious ShoutOut to [[AChristmasCarol Jacob Marley]], is forced to walk the Earth wearing Grumbel's Policy and Procedure Manuals around his neck.

** In a storyline where Marla takes a vacation, Josh takes over for her and Stuart abuses his {{Lickspittle}} mentality to the point of even having him wash his hubcaps. When Marla comes back, Stuart lords over her that he intends to fire her and replace her with Josh...only to learn that Josh can't work management hours, and thus Stuart is forced to wash Marla's hubcaps to keep her from quitting.

'''[[http://www.retailcomic.com/ Retail]]''' is a comic strip created by Norm Feuti (also the creator of ComicStrip/{{Gil}}). Set in a fictional store called Grumbel's, it's a {{satire}} of the world of minimum-wage department store jobs.

'''[[http://www.retailcomic.com/ Retail]]''' is a comic strip created by Norm Feuti. Set in a fictional store called Grumbel's, it's a {{satire}} of the world of minimum-wage department store jobs.

** Cooper will ''never'' win the Halloween costume contest (legitimately). Furthermore, no one will ever appreciate his costumes - and the one year that he dressed as a "normal" character instead of as a geek icon, everyone ''except'' him dressed as geeky characters instead.
*** Actually that storyline in question turned out to be AllJustADream.

* ArtEvolution: Most of the characters didn't change much in terms of appearance, but Stuart seemed to have gone through art evolution the most. Cooper's nickname to his boss, Zucchini Head, makes more sense if you read the first few months of the strip.

** [[TheDitz Courtney]] is currently blackmailing Marla on overhearing that she's planning to open her own store. Her demands so far are to have all Friday nights and Saturday mornings off, which she usually takes as sick leave.

* ConservationOfCompetence: The low-level employees are all smart. The managers and corporate suits are all idiots.

* EvilCannotComprehendGood: After a fashion; In a [[http://www.retailcomic.com/?p=4665 2008 strip]], Stuart just can't understand why Connie (the new District Manager) would want to help them with inventory pre-counts.

* RankUp: In spring 2012, Stuart was offered a promotion to district manager, and urged corporate to promote Marla to store manager (so he wouldn't appear as misogynistic as Jerry). He even got them to time the promotion to coincide with her return from maternity leave.

** Based on other strips, evidence points to Massachusetts, which is where the cartoonist lives. Also, the district manager Jerry was mentioned to be in charge of the New England district. (Of course, a later strip says that Grumbel's added ''Georgia'' to the New England district...)

* CharacterBlog: The now-defunct Cooper's Retail Blog, which sadly was discontinued due to time constraints - and according to Feuti, he lost the original material.

* HideYourPregnancy: After a fashion. Marla, whose pregnancy was revealed in August 2011, doesn't want it made public until she passes the 12-week mark; only she, Scott, and Val know about it. This leads to Stuart looking even more unreasonable than usual when she calls in sick, because he doesn't know what's causing it.

* IncompetenceInc: Grumbel's tends to promote based on lack of competence and writes draconian policies that make no logical sense. [[TakeThat Just like a REAL retail shop!]]

* StrawMisogynist: As the strips went by the district manager Jerry displayed this trope more and more, especially evident in how he treats Marla. Became even more magnified when he told Stuart that if the inventory went poor, he'd be forced to replace him with Marla because, as a woman, they can get away with paying her less.

** Based on other strips, evidence points to Massachusetts, which is where the cartoonist lives. Also, the district manager Jerry was mentioned to be in charge of the New England district.

* ExpressDelivery: Marla's water breaks in the 4/5/2012 strip. She's holding her daughter in the 4/9/2012 strip.

* ItIsPronouncedTroPAY: Stuart's last name, Suchet, is pronounced "soo-shay".

* ItIsPronouncedTro-PAY: Stuart's last name, Suchet, is pronounced "soo-shay".

* IrIsPronouncedTro-Pay: Stuart's last name, Suchet, is pronounced "soo-shay".

* IrIsPronouncedTroPay: Stuart's last name, Suchet, is pronounced "soo-shay".

* BreakingTheFourthWall: The health care subplot ended with Cooper conveniently winning the $10,000 he needed to pay off his hospital bill, along with a note that he had a benevolent cartoonist that looked out for him.