Garden Center Merchandising Manager

Moana Nursery•Reno, NV

9d•Hybrid

About The Position

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.

Requirements

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
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 Haves

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

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