Assistant Manager, Retail space

A gallery retail space in Tokyo is looking for an Assistant Manager. This role supports daily retail operations, including staff supervision, inventory handling, and visual merchandising. Reporting to the Manager of Retail, they manage Associates working in an elevated new retail concept shop and embody the role of brand ambassador. The Assistant Manager acts as Manager-on-Duty opening and closing the shop, supervising the sales team and handles daily administrative tasks as needed.

Responsibilities & Requirements:

• Manage Associates and motivate the team to provide a consistently high level of sales and professional, hospitable service. Unite the team behind shared goals to meet and exceed shared KPIs and sales goals
• Efficiently manage staff rotations and delegate tasks to Associates
• Effectively, efficiently, and regularly communicate information to staff on current exhibitions, programming, retail inventory, and promotions

Act as opening and/or closing Manager:

• Manage opening and closing Open and close cash drawers, reconcile retail and ticketing registers, handle end-of-night deposits. Create and distribute end-of-day reports, with meticulous attention detail
• Hold daily briefings communicating with scheduled Associates and supervise staff rotations and breaks
• Maintain a strong presence on the floor, with special attention to peak times
• Respond professionally and timeously to customer requests, inquiries and feedback
• Maintain visual presentation, with meticulous organization and aesthetically pleasing presentation of the retail space
• Take care to resolve issues and incidents, as they arise

Visual Merchandising:

• Maintain visual merchandising displays according to visual standards and train Associates to support
• Design and print retail signage to effectively communicate product information, artist/designer bios and merchandise stories, to increase customer engagement

Inventory handling :

• In support of the Manager of Retail, monitor incoming product deliveries and efficiently receive, process and ticket merchandise
• Manage flow of inventory between offsite storage unit, onsite stockroom and The Shop floor, ensuring smooth stock flow
• Supervise Associates assigned to restock and display Develop the sales team’s product and vendor knowledge
• Work with the Manager to identify inventory discrepancies, coordinate intermittent stock checks and administer comprehensive annual full physical inventory counts

E-commerce customer service & fulfilment:

• Daily local fulfilment of orders for Ecommerce
• Support of E-commerce customer service as needed

Desired experience: 

•  Solid retail experience and appreciation of art, publications and design
• Supervisory experience managing hourly staff
• Working knowledge of inventory management systems (Square preferred)
• Highly organized approach to managing stockrooms and inventory flow
• Responsibility handling valuable retail inventory
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• A strong work ethic, and inclination to work collaboratively and efficiently
• Available to work a schedule that includes weekends and holidays