Garden Center Merchandising Manager

Description

Visual Merchandising Manager

Reno / Sparks, NV

Description

Your Future Role: Visual merchandising is one of the most important tools Moana Nursery uses to turn retail strategy into customer action. When done well, it helps customers understand what to buy, how products work together, why now is the right time, and how Moana can help them succeed. As the Visual Merchandising Manager, you will create the visual direction, standards, promotional display strategy, signage coordination, and seasonal merchandising guidance that store teams execute across all three Moana Nursery retail locations. This position supports retail sales goals, average ticket growth, compelling promotions, customer inspiration, and store ambiance by translating product priorities, seasonal opportunities, marketing campaigns, and customer needs into clear, shoppable, safe, and inspiring store presentations. This role is not expected to personally build or maintain every display. Instead, success depends on creating a repeatable merchandising system that Store Managers and designated store merchandising point people can execute with consistency, ownership, and appropriate creative freedom. This position influences total-store merchandising, including live goods and non-live goods, with special emphasis on live goods because plants are central to Moana Nursery’s customer promise, seasonal identity, and retail experience.

Your Specific Job Responsibilities:

• Upholds Moana Nursery’s strict safety policies
• Creates visual merchandising direction and standards for all three retail stores
• Develops monthly merchandising direction for promotional campaigns
• Develops seasonal merchandising direction for major changeouts, including Spring, Summer, Halloween, and Christmas
• Builds visual merchandising guides and display direction that may include photos, sketches, product groupings, signage placement, fixture guidance, and planogram-style layouts when useful
• Participates in promotions meetings and signage meetings so merchandising direction is planned before promotions launch
• Works closely with Marketing to ensure promotions are supported with both effective signage and compelling in-store displays
• Participates with Marketing in monthly signage audits and provides coaching-oriented feedback to Store Managers and store merchandising point people
• Works through Store Managers to communicate final merchandising direction to store teams
• Coaches, trains, and supports each store’s designated merchandising point person
• Influences store layout, customer flow, promotional feature areas, product adjacencies, and merchandising zones in collaboration with Store Managers
• Spends regular time in all three retail stores based on promotional launches, seasonal changeouts, audits, coaching needs, and execution support
• Maintains internal photo documentation of strong display examples, missed opportunities, seasonal changeouts, promotional execution, signage placement, and product groupings
• Works with the Senior Merchant to evaluate sales performance, promotional results, GMROI opportunities, seasonal priorities, traffic-driving items, and product categories that deserve visual support
• Recommends display-related needs such as fixtures, props, reusable materials, seasonal accent pieces, and build-out resources
• Assists Buyers/Merchants and Store Managers with merchandising ideas that help move stagnant or slow-selling inventory
• Helps create customer-facing retail-tainment moments such as seasonal displays, photo-op areas, launch weekend presentations, holiday experiences, workshop-support displays, and memorable store moments
• Ensures merchandising direction supports safe, accessible, and easy-to-shop stores, including clear walkways, stable displays, ADA-friendly shopping paths, irrigation access, replenishment needs, cart movement, and store operations
• Maintains a shared merchandising calendar that connects promotions, seasonal changeouts, signage deadlines, execution timelines, audits, coaching follow-up, and post-promotion review

 Your Future Salary & Benefits: The starting rate for this position will be based on experience, expertise, and responsibilities. 

Other benefits for this role include:

• Paid Time Off
• Paid Holidays
• Health Insurance
• Dental Insurance
• Vision Insurance
• 401K with company match
• Profit Sharing Incentive
• Store Discount
• Training & Educational Opportunities
• Career Advancement

The Ideal Candidate:

The ideal candidate is a strong visual merchandiser and retail presentation thinker who understands that great displays are not just pretty — they help customers shop, understand, imagine, and buy. She or he is creative, organized, collaborative, and practical, with the ability to turn product priorities, promotions, signage, customer flow, and seasonal stories into store presentations that are inspiring and executable. This individual knows how to influence and coach without needing to personally control every detail. She or he can work through Store Managers, Marketing, Buyers/Merchants, and store merchandising point people to help each store execute Moana’s merchandising standards while preserving each location’s unique identity. The ideal candidate understands that live goods are central to Moana Nursery’s customer experience and that non-live goods should help support, enhance, and attach to those presentations. If you are looking for a career and not just a job this position might be right for you. There is plenty of opportunity to grow your career at Moana Nursery, and this position is a great way to help shape how our customers experience our stores.

About Moana Nursery: 

Moana Nursery is a vertically integrated, family-owned company specializing in growing, selling, installing and maintaining top quality, High Desert products and services that beautify and enhance our communities. Established in 1967, we are northern Nevada's premier garden center nurseries and landscape services supported by Oregon's best "Hardy Plant" wholesale nursery. We are recognized both regionally and nationally as an industry leader, community member and a consumer favorite. We are committed to continued education and community involvement. If you want a career not a job and want to grow as a person we might be the right fit for you.
 

Requirements

 Physical Requirements & Activity:

• Applicant must be able to lift 60 lbs.
• Applicant must be able to stand, walk, bend, reach, and move throughout the stores for extended periods of time
• Applicant must be able to work indoors and outdoors in a retail nursery environment
• Applicant must be able to safely move light fixtures, signs, props, display materials, plants, pottery, gift items, and other retail products as needed
• Applicant must be willing to travel between Moana Nursery’s three retail locations
• Applicant must be willing to travel periodically if input is needed for trade shows, possibly 2–4 times per year
• Applicant must be able to work occasional weekends, early mornings, or after normal business hours for major seasonal changeouts, promotional launches, and important retail presentation needs

Expertise & Experience Requirements:

• Previous retail experience
• Strong visual merchandising, retail presentation, product merchandising, decorating, design, or store environment experience
• Ability to create compelling displays and product presentations that support sales, customer experience, and average ticket growth
• Ability to influence, coach, collaborate, and communicate across multiple teams
• Ability to turn promotions, seasonal themes, product priorities, and customer needs into clear store execution direction
• Strong understanding of customer flow, product visibility, signage placement, display balance, color, scale, and visual storytelling
• Ability to create visual merchandising guides, photo examples, and display direction that store teams can execute and maintain
• Ability to work collaboratively with Store Managers, Marketing, Buyers/Merchants, and store merchandising point people
• Ability to review sales performance, promotional results, and GMROI opportunities with the Senior Merchant
• Strong organizational skills and ability to manage a shared merchandising calendar
• Valid driver’s license

Nice To Have Skills or Experiences:

• Plant knowledge and garden center experience
• Experience in garden center, nursery, home décor, floral, seasonal retail, lifestyle retail, or specialty retail merchandising
• Experience supporting promotional campaigns or seasonal retail changeouts
• Experience creating merchandising guides, display standards, training materials, or visual playbooks
• Experience with signage coordination, retail audits, or store presentation standards
• Experience creating or working with planograms or merchandising layout maps
• Experience using sales data to guide merchandising decisions
• Working knowledge of Epicor Eagle or comparable point-of-sale system
• Experience coaching store teams without directly managing them
• Creative background in design, styling, art, retail presentation, or visual communication

Your Future Work Schedule:

This is a full-time, year-round position. The regular schedule will generally be Monday through Friday. However, Moana Nursery’s retail stores are open 7 days per week, and this position requires flexibility during major seasonal changeouts, promotional launches, signage audits, retail-tainment setups, and peak retail periods.

Some work may occur on weekends, early mornings, or after normal business hours when needed to support store execution, customer-facing experiences, signage placement, display setup, coaching, or launch readiness.