Bookstore Assistant Manager

About Lovestruck Books & Cafe

Lovestruck Books & Cafe is a vibrant community hub in the heart of Harvard Square where the love of literature meets the art of hospitality. As a romance-focused independent bookstore, we are a space grounded in inclusivity, joy, and connection. We celebrate love in all its forms, offering a welcoming, highly curated retail experience and a dynamic, celebrated events program that connects readers with their favorite authors and a passionate community.

Role Snapshot

The Bookstore Assistant Manager (AM) is an integral operational leader and people developer who serves as the right hand to the Bookstore General Manager. In this role, you help steer store operations, champion our signature hospitality, and cultivate leadership capabilities across the entire bookstore team.

Balancing floor leadership with administrative excellence, the AM fosters an accountable and joyful store environment where team members thrive. You will lead staff training initiatives, coach supervisors and booksellers in operational follow-through and organizational skills, and support essential HR and scheduling functions with discretion and professionalism.

Working in close concert with department leads, the AM helps weave our retail floor, literary programming, and hospitality into one seamless, unified customer experience.

Key Responsibilities

Leadership Development & HR Operations

• Mentor and cultivate leadership capabilities across the entire team, coaching Lead Booksellers and floor staff on effective shift management, prioritization, cross-departmental collaboration, and independent problem-solving.
• Teach supervisors how to actively train, monitor, and develop other employees, equipping them with tools for constructive feedback, objective evaluation, and supportive mentorship.
• Oversee and refine structured onboarding and continuous training curricula for all bookstore roles, ensuring thorough proficiency in customer service, POS systems, and store standards.
• Assist the GM with essential human resources functions, including recruiting, candidate interviewing, performance reviews, and personnel documentation, handling sensitive staff information with discretion, fairness, and professional composure.
• Present a united front with bookstore leadership, modeling workplace expectations, addressing performance challenges empathetically and promptly, and nurturing an inclusive, uplifting team culture.

Store Operations & Administration

• Manage or partner closely with the General Manager on creating and maintaining balanced, budget-conscious staff schedules; administer time-off requests, shift swaps, and coverage to support store traffic and high volume peaks.
• Plan, execute, and follow through on storewide operational projects, procedural rollouts, and seasonal transitions, keeping projects organized, on timeline, and aligned with store goals.
• Model exceptional time management and organizational systems, actively teaching these competencies to supervisors and staff to optimize daily workflow and prevent floor bottlenecks.
• Maintain disciplined, responsive management of store email inboxes, administrative logs, and internal communication channels, ensuring prompt follow-through across shifts and departments.
• Develop, document, and uphold clear Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), opening/closing checklists, and floor audit routines to guarantee consistent execution.
• Regularly serve as the senior leader on duty, overseeing daily building operations, emergency protocols, customer escalations, capacity limits, and store safety.
• Uphold financial integrity through regular drawer reconciliations, register discrepancy tracking, and adherence to store cash handling procedures.
• Serve as the second-in-command and strategic partner to the Bookstore General Manager, stepping in to run bookstore operations in their absence.

Handselling Strategy & Guest Experience

• Partner with leadership to shape and continuously evolve Lovestruck’s handselling strategy, establishing benchmarks for reader engagement and genuine book discovery.
• Train, coach, and monitor booksellers and supervisors in proactive handselling techniques, genre knowledge, and recommendation tactics, celebrating milestones and fostering continuous growth.
• Personally model warm, inclusive, and enthusiastic handselling on the sales floor, creating memorable experiences for all guests.
• Maintain exceptional floor energy, visual tidiness, shelf-talker quality, and register queue pacing during peak retail and event traffic.
• Handle complex customer service inquiries and sensitive situations with discretion, warmth, and sound judgment.

Cross-Departmental Collaboration

• Collaborate closely with the book buying and sidelines teams to communicate stock levels, guest demand, fast-moving titles, and customer special requests, supporting a responsive inventory mix.
• Partner with the Visual Lead to maintain merchandising standards, execute seasonal floor resets, and ensure displays, tables, and featured sections look inspiring and well-stocked.
• Work in close rhythm with the Bar/Cafe leadership and staff to promote a unified, seamless customer journey between the cafe and bookstore stacks, reinforcing a shared team culture across both concepts.
• Coordinate staffing, cash wrap flow, and retail floor coverage to fully support an active calendar of 15+ author and community events per month, ensuring promotional tables, newsletter features, and event book stock are properly maintained.
• Partner with event and floor teams on physical floor changeovers (seating arrangements, signing queues, stage setups) so ticketed programming and daily retail shopping run concurrently without friction.

What You'll Bring

• 3–5+ years of retail supervisory or management experience, with demonstrated success coaching team members and developing emerging leaders (independent bookstore, specialty retail, or hospitality experience strongly preferred).
• A passion for mentorship and developing others, with the ability to coach supervisors on how to monitor, train, and support frontline staff effectively.
• Strong organizational and project management abilities; proven track record of managing competing priorities, meeting deadlines, and maintaining structured workflows.
• High emotional intelligence, mature judgment, and absolute professionalism when handling sensitive personnel matters and confidential staff information.
• Excellent written communication and inbox management skills; proficiency with digital scheduling tools, inventory/POS platforms, and Google Workspace.
• Deep enthusiasm for books and reader culture, with an authentic curiosity for romance tropes, diverse authors, and building community through books.
• A genuine desire to build strong cross-functional partnerships across buying, visuals, events, marketing, and cafe teams to create a cohesive workplace and brand experience.
• Ability to remain calm, adaptable, and decisive during high-traffic rushes, tight event turnarounds, and sudden operational disruptions.
• Ability to remain on your feet during floor supervision shifts and comfortably lift, carry, and maneuver boxes of books and event furniture (up to 50 lbs) with or without reasonable accommodation.