Pros
You'll get to help out artists with their craft, go to art conventions, and get experience in things like marketing and running a small business. Great job security. Most people quit fairly quickly because of the horrid conditions, so the company can't afford to lose the ones who stick around.
Cons
- It's in a shady location. Skid row's not too far away and there are some legitimately dangerous characters in the neighborhood after the sun goes down. They come into the store and there can be some tense moments and robberies. - Minimum wage, no benefits. They'll fight tooth and nail before they give you a fifty cent raise once a year, regardless of how long you've been there and what you've done for them. Then they'll stall on actually applying the raise to your paycheck without telling you, and cut the raise down to the minimum once they don't need you anymore. Super shady. You will never, ever, get full time. - Management disciplines through public humiliation. They'll wait for customers to enter the store then do their best to publicly embarrass you. They are open and honest about this policy with staff. There's no way to please them. The general management strategy seems to be to denigrate employees until they start to believe the constant insults. - Hard physical labor, can be dangerous. You'll be hauling around 100 pound packages of paper, and putting large boxes onto high shelves without assistance. - They'll try to keep you around by promising things. It's never real. Nothing they promise ever comes to fruition. - It's a failing industry. They know this. Most architecture firms use digital models nowadays, and they sell the hard supplies for physical models. Their only hope is that universities continue to require their students to build physical models. When that ends, they're done, and it won't be long. - When they say you'll be "wearing many different hats," they mean you'll be doing everything that the store requires, mostly cleaning toilets, dusting, etc. They add major responsibilities without added compensation, and you will be intensely micromanaged. You'll be effectively running the store, and you'll be blamed for its slow inevitable decline despite only taking strict instructions from management and being a minimum wage employee.