General Manager Optical Retail FT Coralville, IA #218

General Manager – Optical Retail

Are you looking for a career that will bring you “home?” A career with a company that has one of the absolute best store leadership teams on the planet?! Well, you just found it!

One of the nation’s TOP optical companies is seeking a strong optical leader with at least 1 year of retail OPTICAL management experience to help us drive our strong growth and amazing service to the pinnacle of the industry. For nearly 30 years, Eyemart Express has been setting the pace and the standard when it comes to delivering an awesome customer experience along with great prices and the fastest service anywhere! We have full-service labs in every one of our stores! And we’re growing every year with new stores opening throughout the country. Your career growth potential is endless!

So, if you’re looking to join a company that leads the industry in service, quality & speed, and that is rapidly expanding to well over 200 stores, then Eyemart is the place for you! If you have the drive, the talent, along with the leadership experience in bringing teams together and exceeding goals, then we want to talk to you. Take a look at some of the things the role consists of and send us your resume today!

Job Description:

Under the direction of their District Manager and/or Regional Vice President, the General Manager will be responsible for ensuring that all customers who enter the store are professionally assisted with the purchase of eyewear. This is a leadership role, responsible for the enforcement of all Eyemart policies and procedures. A General Manager will perform sales, customer service, lab, and administrative work, in addition to ordering materials and supplies, inventory control, home office reporting, establishing and monitoring lab production, store sales, and quality goals. This role is also responsible for establishing store budgets and cost controls, human resource functions (recruiting, training, coaching, counseling, and termination), P&L control, A/R control, store facility maintenance, and for establishing and maintaining positive doctor relationships. 

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Presence: There must be a manager or designated lead associate on duty in the store at all times. The General Manager must be a visible and accessible presence to patients and employees. The scheduled opening manager must report to work at least 30 minutes prior to store opening and complete daily store opening process, including mandatory daily bank deposits. Saturdays are mandatory work day for management, unless otherwise approved by the Regional Vice President (RVP).
• Manage daily operations of store to meet all Eyemart standards: sales production, pricing, inventory control, approval of all expenditures (frame orders, lens orders, lab and store supplies, etc.), doctor’s office production (where applicable), lab production, A/R collections, etc. Manage store employees; assign duties, establish performance standard and work schedules, hire, train, motivate, mentor, counsel, measure performance, and terminate when appropriate and with prior HR approval.
• Performance Management:
  • Ensure that all employees use the “lifestyle” selling approach and explain product features and benefits to all customers, to ensure that the appropriate premium products are being sold. Then use a summary style close to review the sale and to build value in the sale, ensuring that all customers understand not only what they are purchasing, but the value of the purchase as well.
  • Train all staff to greet all customers upon their entering the store, and to begin assisting them within 2 minutes.
  • Maintain store sales goals at or above company standards, seeking to maximize the store’s gross sales wherever possible.
  • Ensure proper workflow in store’s lab, partnering with the store’s Lab Manager to monitor status of all eyeglass jobs and ensure that all finished jobs meet Eyemart and ANSI standards, as well as patients’ expectations.
  • Patient Relations: Ensure total patient satisfaction, and resolve any patient complaints and/or sales discrepancies. In partnership with home office management, process any refunds and approve in-store credits.
  • P&L Control: Establish and monitor store budget, and manage within that budget when implementing staff pay rates, supply purchases, equipment repairs, and all other store expenses.
  • Reporting: Establish and maintain the accuracy of all corporate reporting, to include payroll, sales data, daily closing reports, bank deposits, daily reconciliation, etc.
  • Eyemart Policies: Act as Eyemart’s ambassador by following and enforcing all company policies and procedures. Enforce company and local policies and procedures.
  • Safety: Train employees to follow OSHA and safety requirements, and maintain a safe retail and lab environment for employees and patients alike.
  • A/R Control: Ensure that all collection policies and procedures are maintained and are effective, resulting in a 60-day turn around for collection of all owed payments.
  • Store Cleanliness / Maintenance: Ensure that a quality medical / retail environment is maintained by the use of daily basic housekeeping duties which include but are not limited to: vacuuming, dusting, sweeping, mopping, wiping down surfaces, cleaning bathrooms, window washing, etc. With approval of district management, schedule periodic deep-cleaning (carpet, ductwork) and facility maintenance.
  • Inventory control. For example: receiving stock, maintaining proper merchandising as per home office guidelines, monthly inventory, following proper remake procedures. Maintain current edit audit logs to prevent inventory loss, and follow and enforce company procedures for employee discounted purchases.

Education and Experience Requirements:

• Experience working in the optical industry is required
• Experience working in retail, customer service or sales
• Experience managing people is preferred
• High School Diploma or GED

Skills and Abilities:

• Ability to stand for prolonged periods of time (up to 8 hours per day per scheduled shift)
• Ability to occasionally stoop, bend, kneel, crouch, reach, and twist
• Ability to lift, carry, push, and/or pull up to approximately 45 lbs, on rare occasions aid in moving heavy lab equipment
• Must possess excellent hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills
• Must possess excellent finger and manual dexterity, control precision, steady hands/arms.
• Ability to operate basic office equipment
• Ability to communicate clearly and concisely, both orally and in writing.
• Ability to work effectively in tandem with direct reports and produce quality work while adhering to job flow schedule.
• Ability to correctly read and interpret prescription specifications and input into computer properly.
• Ability to multi-task in order to maintain acceptable job & customer flow in the store.
• Ability to reach and maintain acceptable production levels in the store overall.
• Ability to maintain store’s environment and equipment in a safe and organized manner.
• Ability to identify and solve problems, and facilitate problem-solving.
• Must have understanding of and ability to add and/or subtract positive and negative integers.
• Must possess time management skills.
• Ability to deal with stressful situations such as deadlines, rejected work, customer complaints, employees’ concerns, etc.
• Ability to work independently or with others.
• Ability to read, comprehend and follow procedures, protocols, and occasionally, technical manuals.
• Ability to correctly and completely fill out all assigned reporting forms in a timely manner
• Ability to prioritize and delegate store’s work load to meet changing priorities and deadlines.
• Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with direct reports.
• Ability to deal with constant interruptions, changes in work flow, changes in number of available direct reports, in a given day, and make sound managerial decisions in response.

Working Environment

• Work is performed primarily in retail store
• Environment often fast-paced and deadline-oriented, due to managing employees and also meeting customers’ expectations.
• Confined space with one or more employees at any given time.
• Exposure to dusts, fumes, glass and/or plastic lens particulates, standard chemicals found in optical lab (some of which may be caustic), metal alloy (solid and melted), moderately high levels of noise, fluorescent lighting, cleaning agents and electrical energy.