Garden Center Assistant Store Manager

Overview

Assistant Store Manager (Assistant Garden Center Manager)

Classification: Exempt
Salary Grade/Level/Range: Assistant Manager
Reports to: Garden Center Manager
Direct Reports: Garden Center Sales Associates and Cashiers

The Assistant Garden Center Manager supports the Garden Center Manager in ensuring outstanding guest service and effective day-to-day operation of the store. This role helps drive sales and profitability through excellence in merchandising, inventory control, expense management, staff training, and shift leadership. The Assistant Manager acts as manager-on-duty when the Garden Center Manager is unavailable.

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Ensure each guest receives outstanding service (greet, acknowledge, assist; maintain standards and product knowledge).
• Resolve customer concerns and conflicts promptly and professionally; escalate issues as needed.
• Model a friendly, knowledgeable, and solution-oriented environment.

• Execute floor moves, displays, signing, pricing, and promotional set-ups to company standards.
• Maintain adequate selling-floor stock levels and compelling adjacencies; ensure daily recovery/housekeeping.
• Monitor business trends; recommend actions to maximize sales and meet/exceed goals.

• Provide efficient support in vendor management, including ordering, receiving, processing, replenishment, and re-wraps, ensuring accuracy and a sense of urgency throughout all tasks.
• Support inventory accuracy, cycle counts, and shrink controls; enforce loss prevention standards.
• Partner with the Nursery Manager/Garden Center Manager to restock retail yard from wholesale and communicate material quantities and future needs.

• Ensure proper plant care in retail areas (watering, pruning, scouting for insects/disease, rotation).
• Maintain product integrity and presentation in alignment with seasonal priorities.

• Lead shifts, delegate tasks, and ensure safety guidelines and company policies are followed.
• Train and coach associates in guest service, product knowledge, POS, merchandising, and plant care.
• Provide ongoing performance feedback; recognize strong performance and address gaps.

• Serve as manager-on-duty for opening/closing and daily operational execution.
• Maintain POS standards: cash handling accuracy, media accountability, and resolution of register issues.
• Support scheduling, communication, meetings, audits, and safety procedures; assist with price checks/comparison shopping as directed.
• Prepare and deliver weekly progress updates to the Garden Center Manager and support reporting to the President as needed.

• Customer/Client Focus
• Leadership & Team Development
• Communication Proficiency
• Organizational Skills
• Ethical Conduct
• Financial/Business Acumen
• Problem Solving & Decision Making
• Learning Orientation
• Basic Horticultural Knowledge

Supervises Garden Center Sales Associates and Cashiers during assigned shifts; responsible for:

• Delegating tasks and monitoring completion
• Enforcing safety and policy compliance
• Elevating issues and communicating Garden Center needs
• Assisting with recruiting, onboarding, and training as directed

This role operates in a retail garden center environment and frequently works outdoors in varying weather conditions. The employee may occasionally work near moving mechanical parts; exposure can include wet/humid conditions, vibration, elevated spaces, airborne particles, and chemicals used in horticulture. Noise levels range from moderate to loud.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk and hear; stand, walk, bend, kneel, stoop, crouch, crawl, and climb throughout the day. The employee must frequently lift and/or move items over 50 pounds. Specific vision abilities include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and…