Assistant Thrift Store Manager

Northern Virginia Family Services; Falls Church (VA); On-site; USD 25,000 - 30,000; Full time

Job summary

Northern Virginia Family Services (NVFS) Thrift Shop is seeking an Assistant Manager to support daily operations and staff coordination under the Thrift Store Manager. You will help drive sales, manage donations, supervise volunteers, and ensure an engaging shopper and donor experience.

You will occasionally lead operations in the Store Manager's absence and contribute to social media and marketing efforts while maintaining a positive, mission-driven environment.

Qualifications

• Resale retail experience and understanding of store operations.
• Knowledge of retail operations management including merchandising and service.
• Strong interpersonal, organizational, and multi-tasking skills.
• Customer service oriented with ability to communicate effectively with staff, customers and donors.
• Supervisory experience preferred.
• Ability to resolve issues calmly and efficiently.
• Must accommodate the store's operational schedule including evenings, weekends and holidays.
• Fluency in English; Spanish a plus.
• Digital proficiency including Microsoft Office; willingness to learn new technologies.

Responsibilities

• Represent thrift shop with excellent customer service at all times.
• Establish a donations collection process and ensure donation guidelines are followed.
• Maintain attractive and organized sales floor layout and merchandise displays.
• Support Store Manager in building partnerships with families and local businesses.
• Assist with donation intake, verification, and discrepancy tracking.
• Assist with pricing and broader sales strategy.
• Collaborate with staff and volunteers to sort, tag, and prepare inventory for sale.
• Resolve customer disputes and handle refunds per policy.
• Create and post approved social media and marketing content.
• Support achievement of daily, weekly and monthly sales and net revenue goals.
• Perform other related duties as assigned.

Skills

Resale retail experience

Retail operations management

Supervisory experience

Customer service oriented

Tools

Microsoft Office Suite

Point-of-Sale (POS) System

Job description

Join the NVFS Family:

The NVFS Thrift Shop is looking for a collaborative, dependable, and customer-focused Assistant Manager to support daily store operations alongside the Thrift Store Manager. This role offers the opportunity to lead and support staff and volunteers, create a positive experience for shoppers and donors, and contribute to a mission-driven program that generates critical funding for the Northern Virginia community.

Why This Role Matters:

As the Assistant Manager, you will work closely with the Thrift Store Manager and management team to coordinate daily operations and help achieve sales and net revenue goals. Depending on store needs, you will take the lead in areas such as donation intake and merchandise processing, volunteer supervision, and social media and marketing efforts. You will also support and guide store employees, engage with shoppers and donors, and independently oversee store operations when the Store Manager is not present. This position requires flexibility to accommodate the store's operational schedule, including some evenings, weekends, and holidays.

Benefits and Compensation:

We want you to be well, have work/life flexibility, grow your career with us, and have the resources and support you need. Check out our comprehensive benefit offerings here in support of various dimensions of your wellbeing.

This role has a starting hourly rate of $20. The schedule is Wednesday - Saturday, 32 hours per week.

In this role, you will be responsible for:

• Represent thrift shop in a positive, pleasant manner by providing excellent customer service at all times; serve as role model and adhere to Agency guidelines; handle requests and concerns as they arise in a timely manner.
• Responsible for establishing a donations collections process on collection days to include greeting customers and donors, evaluating the donation item to ensure it meets donation guideline requirements of what is acceptable – gently used, working with Store Manager on a pricing management structure to ensure consistency in products, etc.
• Maintain an attractive and convenient layout of sales floor
  • Oversee rotation of materials, visual merchandising, cleanliness and organization of sales floor;
  • Maintain the correct quantity and quality of merchandise on display;
  • Ensure displayed merchandising is maintained throughout the day.
• Generate awareness about store’s operations; support Store Manager in building lasting partnerships with families and local businesses to continue donating items and supporting the store.
• Assist with intake of scheduled donation deliveries to the store, verifying donated items and tracking discrepancies
• Ensure donations are received, recorded and presorted according to procedure; monitor and optimize production and inventory; ensure production goals are met; review and ensure utilization of appropriate pricing guidelines.
• Assist Store Manager with pricing of items and broader sales strategy.
• Collaborate with employees and volunteers to sort, tag, and prepare inventory ready for store floor and customer sales (front store operations).
• Resolve customer disputes, handling refunds and discounts based on store policy; elevate incidents over a defined item value or affecting same-day operations.
• Work in collaboration with management team to create and post approved social media content and other marketing content.
• Ensure that budgeted sales and net revenue goals are met on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.
• Perform other related duties as assigned or required.

Staffing & Store Management

• Identify and fulfill staffing needs in conjunction with Store Manager; work collaboratively with each staff member while providing supervision and support.
• Manage the orientation, training and development of store staff including volunteers.
• Assist as needed with preparing weekly schedules; determine daily priorities and tasks to be accomplished.
• Participate in community activities and make community contacts (supporting outreach) to share mission and/or to solicit donations.
• Attend and participate in regular store management meetings and training sessions as scheduled.
• Independently open and close the store and manage day-to-day operations on assigned days

Your Background:

• Resale retail experience
• Demonstrated knowledge of retail operations management, including merchandising and service; ability to use a cash register and point-of-sales system to make change accurately.
• Strong interpersonal, organization, and multi-tasking skills
• Customer service oriented; ability to communicate effectively with staff, customers and donors.
• Supervisory experience preferred
• Ability to resolve issues in a calm and efficient manner
• Must be able to accommodate the operational schedule of the store including some evenings, weekends & holidays
• Willingness to think creatively to create content and strategies that drive up merchandise sales and donations
• Oral and written fluency in English; Spanish language fluency a plus
• Digital and technical proficiency, including working knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite
• Demonstrated willingness to learn and apply emerging technologies to support communications, volunteer engagement, and operational effectiveness
• Comfort learning and using proprietary software and point-of-sale software

Additional Responsibilities:

• Successful completion of background checks required upon hire
• Must have reliable transportation
• Must be available to work holidays, evening and weekends as needed and on short notice
• The employee is required to stand, walk, sit, use hand to finger, bend/stoop, lift/carry, push/pull, and reach with hands and arms.
• Must be able to lift and move up to 40 pounds of clothing and/or house wares (which may be large or bulky) on and off of retail fixtures such as shelving up to six (6) feet high, furniture (with assistance as needed), and clothing racks up to four (4) feet high and z-racks up to six (6) feet high.
• Should possess manual dexterity to fasten & unfasten buttons, snaps & zippers and to operate cash registers & tagging guns.

Working at Northern Virginia Family Services (NVFS) means doing work that matters every day because of the difference you will make in the lives of children and families in Northern Virginia. NVFS’ breadth, depth and scope of services offer the resources and support to ensure that everyone in need, at every stage of life, maximizes their potential and fully contributes to a thriving community. At NVFS, we value every team member’s contribution and our collective impact on our clients and the community. NVFS is an equal opportunity employer, E-Verify participant and drug-free workplace.