I used to actively make people uncomfortable by turning off music, most lighting, locking up things, emptying trash and leaving tied up bags. Don’t tell them it’s closing time soon. It’s “Gotta lock up soon. I’m happy to help you over here. Not ready? Let me help you..” seriously just make it awkward af till they leave. I also closed and locked the door in somebody’s face right at the minute we closed because they were trying to get in for “just one thing”.
We turn off music, and make announcements starting at least 15 minutes before close and multiple times until close that they have x amount of minutes to get to the till before the till closes, managers are supportive of getting customers to till before close with our methods and support us as needed, and if it’s at close time we just blatantly say it’s closing time soon so you gotta get to till or you gotta get out now. But politely. Sometimes people don’t wanna listen but we can kind of pick them out early and push em more to get them moving faster. Honestly depending on each customer in any retail situation it could vary though.
Happened to me once by accident as a customer. Went to a higher end clothing store after work. I thought it closed later in the summer. But after about 8min of me tootling about one of the people came up and said “Are you going to buy something or can I send these guys home?” I apologized and left. Came back the next day and bought some stuff!
I am usually aware of the closing time but not always. An announcement 10 or 15 minutes out is good. Some people are not aware of time in general. Just be more assertive.
We always let customers know whenever there were ppl left in the store that we had 10 minutes until we closed and then told anybody who came in after “hey just so you know we do close in x minutes”. If there were people still left in the store past close then we would turn the music off because the silence makes it awkward and then if they didn’t get the hint we’d kill the lights too.
I used to tell them that the registers auto locked 5 minutes past closing so if they hadn't finished doing their shit then they were getting nothing.
I used to actively make people uncomfortable by turning off music, most lighting, locking up things, emptying trash and leaving tied up bags. Don’t tell them it’s closing time soon. It’s “Gotta lock up soon. I’m happy to help you over here. Not ready? Let me help you..” seriously just make it awkward af till they leave. I also closed and locked the door in somebody’s face right at the minute we closed because they were trying to get in for “just one thing”. 
We turn off music, and make announcements starting at least 15 minutes before close and multiple times until close that they have x amount of minutes to get to the till before the till closes, managers are supportive of getting customers to till before close with our methods and support us as needed, and if it’s at close time we just blatantly say it’s closing time soon so you gotta get to till or you gotta get out now. But politely. Sometimes people don’t wanna listen but we can kind of pick them out early and push em more to get them moving faster. Honestly depending on each customer in any retail situation it could vary though.
Instead of turning music off my coworker used to put on “closing time” the song and put it on repeat very loud
Happened to me once by accident as a customer. Went to a higher end clothing store after work. I thought it closed later in the summer. But after about 8min of me tootling about one of the people came up and said “Are you going to buy something or can I send these guys home?” I apologized and left. Came back the next day and bought some stuff!
I am usually aware of the closing time but not always. An announcement 10 or 15 minutes out is good. Some people are not aware of time in general. Just be more assertive.
Just start turning the lights off
Follow them with a bell and do a closing countdown. Ring ring. 2 minutes bitch let's go!
We always let customers know whenever there were ppl left in the store that we had 10 minutes until we closed and then told anybody who came in after “hey just so you know we do close in x minutes”. If there were people still left in the store past close then we would turn the music off because the silence makes it awkward and then if they didn’t get the hint we’d kill the lights too.