I left retail, returning afterward (5)
I believe the answer is:
later
'afterward' is the definition.
(I know that afterward can be written as later)
'i left retail returning' is the wordplay.
'left' suggests deleting specific letters.
'returning' says the letters should be written in reverse.
'retail' with 'i' taken away is 'retal'.
'retal' backwards is 'LATER'.
(Other definitions for later that I've seen before include "after an interval" , "Alert (anag.)" , "bye" , "at a future date" , "In due course" .)