I oversee the wine and beer program for a small local company with long-standing presence in the Oregon food and retail landscape. I wear many hats that include planning weekly ads, seasonal events and programs, determining day-to-day product mix to reflect trends, holidays, and customer preferences. This role had been established at Basics less than a year prior, and one of my first major tasks was to establish operating procedures and expectations for the program. My experience in the industry has been beneficial in establishing new and maintaining existing relationships with distributors, wineries, and importers. Additionally, this experience has allowed me to mentor and guide store staff in best practices in ordering and inventory management, merchandising, and promotions/marketing.

This position was like nothing I've ever done before and I am grateful for the experience. I directly managed 4 employees in a busy store and wine and beer department, and managing a 12-tap beer and cider bar and small by the glass wine program gave me valuable (however narrow) insight into what on-premise service entails.I was given a lot of independence to curate an eclectic mix of wine, beer, cider, and local gourmet coffee based on customer preferences and the products my team and I were passionate about, which allowed for growth in our customer base and established loyal customer relations.I was able to continue cultivating strong and beneficial relationships with local wineries, distributors, and importers, which allowed me to build sales and customer loyalty even further through consumer tastings and educational events.

In this position, I worked with the local distributor and Free Public management to build and promote a start-up canned wine company in retail settings through brand introduction to retail buyers and to consumers through in-store tastings.

In this role, I oversaw the wine, beer, and spirits programs for twenty stores in Oregon, Washington, and California. I planned and helped to open new stores, including the company’s first out-of-market stores in Seattle metro and Silicon Valley (Sunnyvale.)I collaborated with company executives to forecast sales and plan company and program development, growth, and change. I also worked to develop store staff both in product knowledge and knowledge of running their department through planned staff trainings through my own knowledge, as well as hosting winery, distributor, and importer guests, and I encouraged continued education and self-guided study.I used a variety of tools to help me successfully plan weekly ads, seasonal events and programs, and day to day product mix: using sales and movement data to identify trends and track margin; staying current on trends in the industry from local to international by utilizing industry publications as well as maintaining relationships with distributors, wineries, and importers; working with my peers in other departments to bolster a marketing theme – some of my favorites were building ads and displays around Valentine’s Day, Earth Day, and Christmas.One of the aspects of this position that I am most proud of is having helped plan and launch New Seasons' first private label wines at the value level (Partners in Crime) and working with local wineries to collaborate on co-branded wines at the discovery level (Overjoy.) From the initial rounds of fact-finding to the roundtables to taste and explore what wines our customers would love to meetings with the marketing department on label design, every meeting was enlightening and fun – never tedious.

As Assistant Merchandiser, I was responsible for helping all of the Wine & Beer departments in the company follow the merchandising standards and to help them look and perform their best. I was also responsible for monthly data entry and pricing maintenance.

After 6 years at the Raleigh Hills location, I became the roving wine steward, traveling from store to store helping all of the wine staff with many different aspects of running their department, including coaching for best practices in inventory management, visual merchandising, and product mix.

I ordered and processed specialty and imported cheeses; assisted in the ordering and selection of fine wines, with emphasis on Italy; customer service in wine, cheese, deli & charcuterie

I was responsible for ordering, stocking, and customer service in cheese, wine, beer, whole bean coffee, and imported dry goods.