Position: Manager, Retail and Visitor Services
Reports to: Director of Operations
Status: Full-time, Exempt
$61,000 - $67,000
General Description: The Manager of Retail & Visitor Services sets the standard for an exceptional visitor experience across the museum and its retail operations. This role provides leadership and direction to both the Visitor Services and Store teams, ensuring seamless daily operations and a welcoming, customer-focused environment.
Key responsibilities include inventory purchasing, merchandising, and product development that reflects and complements the museum’s exhibitions. The Manager is responsible for writing staff schedules, conducting annual inventory, while providing clear expectations and guidance to team members. This position collaborates closely with multiple departments, most notably Finance, Security, and Facilities to support efficient operations and a cohesive visitor experience.
The ideal candidate brings a minimum of five years of retail management experience, with demonstrated expertise in buying, merchandising, inventory control, and staff supervision. A strong commitment to customer service, attention to detail, and the ability to manage multiple priorities in a dynamic environment are essential.
Responsibilities:
- Manage the opening and closing of the store and admission desks
- Develop and implement procedures necessary to insure proper cash handling and inventory control
- Verify daily monetary reconciliation and bank deposits, retail and wholesale deposits
- Assure prompt processing of mail inquiries, phone orders, internet inquiries and orders, and merchandise returns
- Approve billing of merchandise after receiving and send appropriate paperwork to the Finance office for payment
- Handle correspondence with sales representatives and vendors
- Purchasing all museum store merchandise including consignment items
- Track and reconcile expenditures to CFO
- Oversee the receiving and stocking of store merchandise
- Attend gift shows to purchase new and relevant inventory
- Determine pricing, markdowns and sale cadence
- Produce daily, monthly and annual store income reports
- Conduct an accurate physical inventory of all merchandise annually
- Work with strategic partners on product development
- Determine and implement promotional calendar
- Display store merchandise in a compelling manner
- See that the store and admissions is properly staffed through appropriate scheduling
- Provide training for all store staff
- Supervise staff of 5 – 12 people
Qualifications:
- Five years experience in retail sales/management
- Administrative/supervisory skills including personnel and budgetary experience
- Strong math skills
- Excellent organizational skills
- Computer literate
- Sales experience
- Buying and Merchandising experience
Physical Demands:
- Able to stand and walk for several hours
- Able to lift and carry twenty pounds
- Able to reach high items with the use of a ladder
- Able to reach low items leaning or bending over
Typical Equipment Used:
- Point of sale system – Counterpoint
- Visitor Services – ALTRU
- Windows
About the Farnsworth
Founded as a bequest of Lucy Copeland Farnsworth, the Museum opened its doors in 1948 in Rockland, Maine, with a singular mission to celebrate Maine’s role in American art. The Farnsworth’s primary purpose is to be a repository for American art objects related to Maine and a resource for all, including local and state residents, as well as tourists visiting from throughout the United States and abroad.
Throughout the Museum’s history, it has championed the unique role that Maine plays in the larger story of American art. The Farnsworth’s collection of approximately 15,000 works focuses on American art from the 18th century to the present, in all media, with a special emphasis on artists with deep connections to Maine. From purchasing works by a young Andrew Wyeth–becoming the first museum to do so–to collecting pieces by pivotal Maine artists such as Fitz Henry Lane, George Bellows, Rockwell Kent, Lynne Drexler, Lois Dodd, Daniel Minter, Ann Craven, and Jeremy Frey, the Museum has and will continue to represent the excellence of the arts in Maine. We are also broadening and diversifying collections to more fully reflect the breadth of Maine artists working today and the interests of our growing and multicultural audience.
The Museum also cares for two historic properties: the Farnsworth Homestead, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, and the Olson House, joining the campus in 1991 and designated as a National Historic Landmark in 2011.
Welcoming approximately 75,000 visitors each year, the Farnsworth has a $58 million economic impact on the mid-coast and surrounding areas and has revitalized the creative capital of Rockland. It is the first art museum in Maine to receive accreditation by AAM.
