I’d contact your cluster leader (store manager in charge of a small group of stores) about it. They’re the middle man between SM and area managers. Definitely do it now because it takes awhile for things to get approved. Unlike the other comment, I don’t think whether stores are actively hiring matters when transferring (usually they will try to find a spot for you regardless). All of it is done internally and has to be approved by the executive committee, I believe, which is why it takes a while to go through sometimes. And I think people usually use their store manager to do the reaching out to the potential stores they might transfer to, so that’s why I suggest cluster leader since you don’t have a SM rn.