店長

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: 店長 (てんちょう) is a compound noun for the manager responsible for a store, its staff, and sales floor.
• Basic usage: 店長に尋ねる marks the person asked about an out-of-stock item, while 新しい店長は見直した makes the new manager the agent reviewing the sales-floor layout.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• Person consulted and operational manager
  • 店長に marks the recipient of a question, while 店長は makes the manager the topic of an improvement action. Neither example says the person owns the store, so manager and proprietor should not be equated.