Jul 23rd 2010 Issue
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Now Hiring: Store Managers

Charles Cain - Jul 23rd 2010

How would you feel working in tea?

Adagio Prototype Design

Position: Store Manager
Location: Naperville, Skokie, and Chicago IL
Type: Full time salaried

Adagio Teas is seeking experienced and passionate retail professionals to manage our first Tea Retail Store in Naperville, IL and our second store at Old Orchard Mall. The right candidate will have previous retail management and training experience and a passion for customer service. Adagio Store Managers are front-line, lead-by-example tea evangelists on a mission to introduce casual consumers to Adagio's collection of more than 200 premium loose-leaf teas and line of tea brewing equipment and accessories.

Adagio Tea Stores are designed to be a playground for tea. Where else can you sniff and fondle hundreds of teas all on your own, or get a guided tour from a trained expert? Customers are encouraged to create custom tea blends, brew samples of any tea in the building, and test tea accessories on our Cupping Table. Adagio employees are upbeat, relaxed, irreverent, and crazy about the leaf. This is NOT your local cafe OR an old-fashioned tea shop full of tea snobs.

Manager Responsibilities:

  1. Hire, train, manage and retain a world-class sales staff
  2. Sell goods, recommend products and serve customers on the sales floor (the Manager should be the store's TOP sales person)
  3. Maintain store appearance and product presentation to company standards
  4. Implement strategies to improve customer service, drive store sales and increase profitability
  5. Manage labor and inventory at optimal levels to minimize overhead and maximize sales
  6. Manage all store operations
  7. Responsible for the profit/loss of the store

Candidate Profile:

  1. Retail Management and employee training experience
  2. Excellent communication and sales skills
  3. Refined palate (we can teach you about tea, but you need to be a foodie)
  4. Natural leader (extroverted personality - able to inspire loyalty and motivate employees)

We'll be opening 2-3 stores in the Chicago land area this year. If all goes as planned, we'll begin expanding nationally in 2011. We're looking for highly motivated candidates willing to get their hands dirty and do the heavy lifting to help get our retail operation off the ground. We also need highly qualified people able to grow with our company and advance into more senior roles as we take what we've learned in the first few stores and build a national retail operation.

To apply, please email a professional resume and cover letter with references to charles@adagio.com and then fill out this brief survey.

More about Adagios Stores:
Press Release: Adagio Plans Expansion into Retail
Store Design Part 2: Adagio's Objective
Store Design Part 3: Adagio's Concept

More about our approach to staffing and training
Tea Consultant Training Part 1: Theory
Training Pt. 2: Consult vs. Sell

More about the Tea Industry:
Tea's Cinderella Story
Tea Retail is growing strong

Adagio Teas
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