Salary

• Although independent contractors work in this industry, many store operations specialists fall within the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' category of supervisors of retail sales workers. According to the bureau's 2010 Employment and Wages Report, workers in this category made a median salary of $35,820 that year. The middle 50 percent earned between $27,810 and $46,380.
  
  

Industry Information

• The top five types categories for employers of store operations specialists include general merchandise, grocery, clothing, department and building materials. The top-paying industries, although some have lower demand for workers, include insurance sales, automobile dealers, professional and wholesale dealers and wholesalers of chemical products.
  
  

Regional Data

• The highest demand for store operations managers for 2010 was in California, Texas, Florida, New York and North Carolina. The highest wages for that year for retail supervisors were in Rhode Island, New Jersey, New York, the District of Columbia and Connecticut. Ambitious store operations specialists might look to New York for opportunity, as that state is on both regional top lists.
  
  

Job Outlook

• The Bureau of Labor Statistics expects jobs in this category to grow by 5 percent from 2008 to 2018. That's slightly slower than the 8 percent growth expected for the U.S. job market as a whole. The bureau attributes this slower growth to a general slowing in retail as an industry.