Specialty Department Manager

About the Company

Healthy Living is a locally owned, independent chain of supermarkets serving communities in Vermont and New York. Our mission is to fuel a passion for great food, health, and well-being and be the place where people gather to shop, eat, and work. We are committed to providing super healthful, innovative, and delicious food while maintaining exceptional hospitality and creating an inviting place to shop and eat. We prioritize our relationships with local farmers and producers and actively contribute to our community.

About the Role

The Specialty Department Manager leads the daily operations of the Specialty Departments (cheese/bread, housewares, and beer/wine), delivering well-merchandised departments, quality products, and outstanding guest service. This role provides leadership, training, coaching, and support to department staff while maintaining company standards and regulatory compliance. The Specialty Manager oversees inventory management and ordering processes, works with vendors, and supports related department functions. They maintain accurate inventory levels, monitor back stock, support sales and financial goals, and lead by example to create an efficient, welcoming, and guest-focused department.

Responsibilities

• Create schedules, approve timecards, manage staffing needs, and resolve attendance, performance, and workplace concerns.
• Travel to other locations as needed to support training and department operations.
• Manage replenishment ordering, inventory accuracy, cycle counts, shrink reporting, credits, and purchase order maintenance for assigned categories.
• Build strong vendor relationships, coordinate new items, demos, and seasonal ordering, and communicate product performance, trends, and guest feedback to Category Managers.
• Maintain merchandising standards through accurate shelf tags, signage, product presentation, cross merchandising, promotional displays, and well-stocked sales floor and backstock areas.
• Lead the daily operation of the department by maintaining a clean, organized, safe, and fully stocked environment.
• Deliver outstanding guest service through product knowledge, special orders, and sales floor support.
• Execute monthly promotions, maintain merchandising standards, and support department and store operations during peak business periods.
• Partner regularly with Category Managers and store leadership to achieve operational, merchandising, and sales goals while maintaining all company standards and regulatory requirements.

Requirements

• At least 2 years of progressive supervisory experience.
• At least 3 years’ experience working with cheese, wine, beer, and/or bread, preferably in a retail environment.
• Previous purchasing or inventory management experience.
• Previous experience working with local products is preferred.

Essential Behaviors

• Make Someone’s Day: Bring genuine enthusiasm to work daily. Enjoy helping others—staff and guests—and see getting to “yes” as a fun challenge. Interact freely with every guest and use positive energy to uplift teammates.
• Move Fast and Be Thorough: Work with a purposeful sense of urgency, balancing speed with excellence. Connect with guests while completing tasks efficiently and skillfully.
• Create a Team People Want to Stay On: Contribute to an upbeat, effective team where members thrive and express a desire to grow together. Treat teammates with respect, kindness, and empathy.
• Show Up: Be fully present, reliable, and invested in the team, guests, and trade partners. Bring authentic, positive energy to work every day.
• “What Can I Do?”: Proactively ask, “What can I do?” and “How can I help?” Anticipate the needs of coworkers and guests to support the collective goals of the team and store.
• Come with a Solution: Identify pain points in systems and propose creative solutions. Adapt to change with grace and communicate needs openly.
• Own It: Hold yourself and teammates accountable. Address issues by asking, “What can I do to help fix it?” Celebrate successes and pay attention to details.
• Seek Knowledge: Embrace learning, feedback, and self-reflection. Help others grow and take on new challenges and opportunities to learn.

Pay

Starting at $26–30.14/hour (previous experience will be taken into consideration).

Schedule

Full-time, flexible scheduling with weekend and holiday availability required.

Benefits

• Health Insurance (employer pays 75% for single health benefits).
• Dental and Vision Insurance.
• Short-Term Disability Insurance.
• Life Insurance.
• Critical Illness Insurance.
• Accident Insurance.
• Flex Spending Accounts.
• Health Spending Accounts.
• Paid time off (full-time staff receive 2 weeks; gain an additional week on 1st and 4th anniversaries).
• Sick time (part-time staff receive 40 hours of sick time a year).
• Paid Maternity/Paternity leave (up to 8 weeks paid time off).
• Generous store discount: 20% off grocery, 20% off hot bar/salad bar/coffee and juice bar, 10% off beer, 20% off wine, 30% off vitamins/supplements.
• Half-price one-month bus passes.
• 401(k): 100% match of the first 3% of contributions; 50% match on contributions above 3% and up to 5%. Staff are 100% vested from day one.
• Income advance program with North Country Federal Credit Union.
• Free Celtics tickets.
• Additional benefits available.