Lead Bookseller - Visuals & Merchandising

Lovestruck Books & Cafe is a vibrant community hub in the heart of Harvard Square where the love of literature meets the art of hospitality. As a romance‑focused independent bookstore, we are grounded in inclusivity, joy, and connection. We celebrate love in all its forms, offering a welcoming, highly curated retail experience and a dynamic events program that connects readers with their favorite authors and a passionate community.

We are looking for a highly organized, detail‑obsessed retail professional who loves translating creative visions into beautiful, physical realities. Lovestruck Books & Cafe is seeking a Lead Bookseller to join our team as a key floor leader and visuals professional. This supervisory role serves as the operational anchor for our evening team, maintaining our high standard of customer service, safety, and store organization.

The role has a strong dual focus on visual merchandising and works closely under our Assistant Manager of Visuals and Merchandising to help execute eye‑catching displays and planograms. As part of our leadership team, you will collaborate with and support the events team during in‑store and off‑site events while supervising store operations and leading the closing shift.

• Operational Leadership:
  Supervise evening floor staff, serving as the primary point of contact for staff needs, operational troubleshooting, and resolving escalated customer service issues with grace and diplomacy.
• Store Closing Procedures:
  Own evening operations 3–5 nights per week. Ensure executed task lists, cash drawer reconciliation, and final building lock‑up with accuracy and efficiency.
• Performance & Standards:
  Keep the floor energized and focused. Direct floor staff on accurate and efficient task completion, ensuring booksellers are proactively assisting guests, keeping shelves neat, and maintaining store presentation standards.
• Safety & Policy Adherence:
  Act as the designated floor manager during shifts, ensuring safety protocols, security procedures, and store policies are consistently followed by staff and visitors.

• Planogram & Display Support:
  Partner closely with the Assistant Manager of Visuals and Merchandising to execute seasonal themes, display updates, and planograms.
• Creative Curation:
  Use your creative eye to help design, construct, and maintain highly engaging tables, window displays, and endcaps that highlight our inventory and appeal to our romance community.
• Stock Maintenance:
  Ensure featured visual sections remain fully stocked, organized, and visually appealing throughout your shifts. Proactively communicate low inventory of featured titles to the purchasing/inventory team.

• Floor & Coverage Management:
  Ensure the retail sales floor continues to run smoothly and professionally during evening events. Manage retail coverage so that customers can shop seamlessly while events are underway.
• On‑the‑Floor Assistance:
  Provide collaborative, on‑the‑ground support to the Events team as needed. Actively participate in the lifecycle of store events, including physical setup and breakdown, guest check‑in, and on‑site assistance to ensure events run smoothly.
• Safe Environment:
  Partner with the event staff to maintain safety, capacity limits, and clear pathways on the sales floor during high‑volume event conditions.

• Detail‑Oriented Organization:
  Maintain clean, structured back‑of‑house storage for merchandising materials, fixtures, supplies, and deliveries.
• Task Execution:
  Track, prioritize, and manage daily floor tasks, shifting staff focus as needed to complete restocking, cleaning, and display resets on schedule.

• Supervisory or Leadership
  
  Experience:
  
  1–2+ years of retail, hospitality, or customer service experience, with previous supervisory, keyholder, or shift‑lead experience preferred.
• Strong Interest in Visual Merchandising: A creative eye and passion for visual display work. Prior visual merchandising experience is a major plus, but a strong desire to learn and execute planograms under direction is required.
• Project Management
  
  Skills:…