Area Leader - Retail - St Pete/Sarasota Area

Follett; Bradenton (FL); On-site; USD 71,000 - 103,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

401k match

Paid time off

Holidays

Bonus plan

Job summary

Follett is seeking a Market Leader to guide and inspire store leaders across a geographic market, driving sales growth, talent development, campus relations, and customer service excellence. You will direct course materials delivery, merchandising, and store operations while ensuring budget goals are met and strong campus partnerships are built.

The position emphasizes leadership across multi-location teams, heavy travel (50%+), and a focus on community engagement, performance feedback, and

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent required.
• 5–7 years of multi-unit store experience preferred.
• Demonstrated results and sales-driven mindset.
• Experience with full-cycle talent management is a plus.
• Strong customer service orientation and campus relations skills.
• Willingness to travel 50%+ across the market.
• Proficient with general computer applications and store systems.

Responsibilities

• Lead and inspire store leaders and teams within a geographic market.
• Drive sales growth and operational excellence.
• Develop talent and campus relations across locations.
• Ensure exceptional customer service and store presentation.
• Oversee course materials operations and accounts receivable processes.
• Partner with ACCESS leaders to grow business and manage inventory.

Skills

Multi-Unit Store Experience

Results oriented

Sales driven

Customer service

Campus relations

General computer skills

Education

Bachelor's Degree or equivalent

Job description

Join the Follett Team, where employees are valued, respected, and offered career paths throughout its many campus locations. Follett serves over half of the students in the United States and works with 80,000 schools as a leading provider of education technology, services, and print and digital content. We're higher education's largest campus retailer and a hub for school spirit and community as we operate nearly 1,200 local campus stores and over 1,600 virtual stores across the continent. We take pride in the fact that for more than 140 years, we have been helping to improve people's lives by supporting a lifetime of learning and education.

Pay Rate - $70,800 - $102.900 per year

As a Market Leader, you will lead and inspire store leaders and teams within a specific geographic market to consistently deliver operational excellence in sales growth, talent development, campus relations, and customer service.

You will inspire and lead change management and provide clear direction to maintain alignment with strategic direction, motivate and empower store teams through strong collaborative communication, drive accountability, and demonstrate leadership in hiring, training, developing, and retaining team members while consistently elevating the retail shopping experience.

Through your expertise and influence, you will establish, interface, and enhance campus relations, effectively communicate Follett priorities and guiding principles, achieve budgets and financial goals, cultivate and support the highest level of customer service, prepare and execute store operating plans, timely and efficiently oversee the delivery of student course materials, provide best in class General Merchandise presentations, direct consistent Follett accounts receivable processes and procedures, as well as engage in supporting store operational functions across all locations within the geographic market.

You will consistently exemplify Follett Values - We Are One Team, We Do What's Right, We Innovate & Create, We Own The Results, We Put People First, We Stand For Inclusion. Demonstrate proficiency in Follett Strategic Core Competencies - Thought, Results, People, and Self.

Responsibilities

Driving Results/Sales:Consistently deliver exceptional results through business insight and operational expertise within a specific geographic market, including:

• Lead ongoing in-person and virtual store visits within an assigned market.
• Regularly review market/store financial reporting and initiate plans and actions to drive future results.
• Partner with store leaders to plan and implement effective sales events such as Back to School, Gameday, Homecoming, etc.
• Champion effective execution of standard operational procedures, programs, and initiatives.
• Demonstrate a strong understanding of store presentation standards; lead and coach teams to consistently deliver best-in-class merchandising execution.
• Contribute to regularly scheduled assortment/product planning meetings with store leaders and One Team Center partners.
• Collaborate with store leaders to ensure store schedules support customer service standards and maximize selling opportunities; ensure compliance with labor hour budgets.
• Successfully partner with ACCESS leaders to drive new ACCESS business and effectively support and grow existing business.
• Responsible for leading in-store course materials activities across the market in collaboration with course materials leadership.
• Ensure that all operational back-office functions are completed in accordance with company directives, policies, and procedures, including:
• Preparation and follow-up on Accounts Receivables, Account Invoices, Chargebacks, and coordination of Stock Shipments.
• Responsible for meeting annual shrink budget.

Talent Management: Champion full cycle talent management for all stores, including:

• Active recruitment, training, coaching, and talent development.
• Exemplifies market-wide culture of continuous performance feedback and effective, periodic performance evaluations.
• Maintain succession plan/talent pipeline with a strategy to develop an internal bench of candidates and cultivates external pool of key talent.
• Develop cross-functional teams of engaged team members to execute standards and drive business results.
• Cultivate and maintains a culture of accountability.

Campus Relations: Establish and foster strong relationships with the campus communities, campus administration, athletics departments, faculty, and staff, including:

• Ongoing review of campus operations and business results with campus partners.
• Collaborate on opportunities both on campus and within local communities.
• Partner with store leaders to deliver effective SPR meetings 2x per year with relevant campus stakeholders.

Customer Service: Is passionate about Customer Service and leads teams to provide a fun, best-in-class experience for all customers, including:

• Provide an engaging customer service experience and incorporates the GET customer service model into in-store and online experience.
• Coach store leaders and teams in effective customer service behaviors; follow up consistently to recognize performance.
• Ensure store scheduling is optimized to provide exceptional customer service.
• Partner with stores as needed to resolve escalated customer issues and incidents in a timely manner.
• Review SMG data, share with team members, and proactively takes action to improve results.

Other duties as assigned to support general store operations.

Follett Higher Education is a drug-free workplace environment.

Full time benefits:

• Medical, Dental, & Vison
• Voluntary Insurance plans
• 401k + 100% company match (up to 4%)
• 80 hours vacation + sick days
• 10 paid company holidays
• Quarterly Bonus Plan

Equal Opportunity Employer. This company considers candidates regardless of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or veteran status.

Requirements

• Bachelor's Degree or equivalent
• 5-7 years of Multi-Unit Store Experience
• Results and Sales Driven
• Experience with full-cycle talent management
• Passionate about Customer Service
• Foster strong relationships with campus relations
• Travel Requirements greater than 50%
• General Computer Skills