Grace Edmonds Email & Phone Number

New York City Metropolitan Area

Responsible for buying and sourcing all non-book product for both brick and mortar and online stores - including clothing, stationery, toys, housewares, impulse items etc.Drive category growth to meet and exceed 2019 sales numbers for all merchandise categories - Expand and strengthen assortment.Track market trends in all gift categories.Analyze sales weekly to inform buying and merchandising.Manage in house merchandise lines from concept to execution.Drive brand story through in house merchandise lines.Manage third party vendor relationships (over 100 vendors)Twice monthly meetings with executive management to discuss sales data and brand direction. Work closely with visual merchandising team to ensure product is well located and displayed. Liaise with communications team on social media and web stories to help drive online sales.Manage a team including graphic designer and photographer to ensure brand standards across in store and web platforms in visuals and merchandise.Work with new COO to organize open-to-buy for non-book department

New York, New York, United States

Responsible for buying: books, jewelry, beauty, and some novelty. Liaise daily with vendors to track orders and ensure timely arrival. Source new, on brand product. Track inventory in my categories to ensure stock stays flush. Manage presence of my vendors on web store, making edits as necessary to add new product or remove low stock product. Routinely close and open the store, lead staff on the floor (create daily schedule, assign tasks, oversee the sales floor.) Oversee back room receiving. Manage incoming shipments, sort and package inter store transfers. Regularly meet with company president to assess business needs, particularly in terms of product assortment and general store appearance. Make recommendations as necessary regarding merchandising and operations.

Chelsea Market Ny, Ny

Achieved 400% profit increase in Chelsea Market location.Purchased all gift, stationery, and toy lines - oversaw and monitored correspondence/relationships with over 100 vendors and regularly analyzed vendor performance.Controlled and resolved purchase orders - acted on replenishment requests from store managers and brought in new product.Attended trade shows - New York Now and Shoppe Object. Liaised with vendors from across different retail sectors including: fashion, beauty, book, toy and stationery.Controlled all visual merchandising across 4 disparate locations - two in New York City, two in Atlanta.Trained new and retrained old staff in receiving and merchandising practices. Oversaw upwards of 20 staff members and trained them in receiving product, merchandising and general store operations as necessary. Core member of branding team tasked with identifying target customers, bringing in consistently on brand vendors, training staff in maintaining brand integrity and scaling successful retail concepts to all locations.

Chelsea Market Ny, Ny

Supervised team of 10-12 junior and senior employees - assigned receiving, merchandising and register tasks, handled scheduling problems, mentored 3 senior staff members in merchandising and receiving practices. Ensured bookkeeping aligned with register readouts - resolved disputes as needed with bookkeeper. Trained new hires in day to day operations - opening/closing procedures, inventory system processes and money management. Interviewed and hired new staff.

New York, New York, United States

Opened and closed store.Rang up customers. Received shipments and closed purchase orders.

Brooklyn

Work individually and in groups with middle school students to improve their reading and writing skills as well as provide general homework assistance. Collaborate with after school arts instructors to create and teach an arts based literacy curriculum. Aid with administrative tasks as needed.

Volunteer to teach health programs in public schools to ninth graders who do not get health education. Lead, manage, and train a group of four college age volunteers to teach the health workshops. Attend training sessions in management, public speaking, and teaching.

Organized and produced the Vagina Monologues show on my campus (Fordham University). Maintained constant contact with cast members/directors, handled finances, met with university administrators regarding the show, handled advertising for auditions and show, organized bake sales and other fundraisers.

Aided in the administration of the J-1 visa program (for foreign students to do internships in the United States), conducted spoken English tests, ongoing email correspondence in English and German, edited English documents for German colleagues, aided in set-up of company site-visits, developed Excel databases, prepared mailings.

Lead a group of elementary school girls at a day camp. Planned program weekly for campers and managed strict time schedules (menus for cookouts, activities, swimming lessons).

Master Of Science (M.S.), Urban Policy

Ba, Comparative Literature And German

Activities and Societies: Peer Health Exchange, Fall 2009 Semester Abroad in Vienna, Editor - Bricolage - Literary Studies Magazine.

Russian Language