Pros
You get a free pair of shoes (and 3 basic logo t-shirts) when you start, and another pair of shoes after every year of working there. 50% discount on regular priced items. 30% discount on sale items, 40% discount at other retailers owned by VF Outdoor. If you go to Warped Tour, you get free gear if you show a paystub. It's a fun company with a relatively long history. You feel like you're part of something big, even though the company itself is kind of small for how well-known it is. There is a pretty thorough training program. It's all on-the-job, but they don't expect you to immediately know everything (it took me weeks to learn the shoe and color names). They also give you information on exactly why the shoes are higher quality, and give specifics on the manufacturing process.
Cons
I have a really kind, accommodating, hard-working manager who doesn't just sit around and expect everyone else to work, but just like any other retail job, I can imagine having a manager who didn't care about his/her employees would make working there awful. One thing that really confused me was that aside from the manager and four assistant managers, there were nine sales associates/cashiers (after a few people left to go back to school), and we were only getting a shift or two every week, but during the seasonal hiring time, they hired nine more completely new people. It seems like a smaller team of people who work more often would be better at their job than a huge team of people who come in so rarely that they don't have the opportunity to become better at their job. I'm rating the work/life balance lower because I honestly have too much life and not enough work to balance it out. They don't do any sort of commission. I would personally enjoy a little bit of friendly competition.