KINK STORE RETAIL MERCHANDISING ASSOCIATE

JOB DESCRIPTION

COMPANY: Red System Ventures LLC (common ownership with kink.com, kinkstore.com)

LOCATION: San Francisco. Sixth Street event space and Mission District location.

REPORTS TO: Retail/Event General Manager

JOB TYPE: Part Time, hourly, non-exempt. 16-24 hours per week, varying with the event calendar and retail needs. Expect 24-28 hours during the initial Mission build-out. Availability often includes evenings and weekends.

COMPENSATION: $30.00-$32.00 per hour depending on experience. Paid meal and rest breaks.

OVERVIEW

We are looking for someone to build and run the retail floor across our two San Francisco locations: the Sixth Street event space and our new store in a room on the penthouse level at 1717 Mission. While part time initially this role could grow into something full time with more responsibility. We plan also a further warehouse outlet. We aim to be a major retailer and wholesaler of BDSM related products.

This is a merchandising role first. We want someone who knows how to make a retail space work, meaning how product should be grouped, what belongs at eye level, how a customer moves through a floor, and what makes someone pick something up. The Mission location is a blank slate and we want it built by someone who thinks about this for a living.

Kink is a premium brand and our retail should feel that way. Everything on the floor, from fixtures down to price tags, needs to read as elegant and upscale. The supporting work of Shopify data, counts, tagging, restocking and running point of sale at events comes with the territory, but the reason we are hiring is the floor.

The first ninety days will focus on building out the Mission retail floor, setting up our Shopify catalog and inventory at that location, and getting both stores counted, labeled and accurate. This role starts focused on building out and running retail. We will review scope and fit at ninety days, and as the program matures it may grow into house management or assistant management responsibilities and training other house managers to operate the outlets.

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS

Merchandising and visual presentation, the core of this role

Owns how both retail floors look, from overall layout down to individual facings.
Groups product so customers can browse, compare sizes and styles, and find what they came for.
Sets and maintains display standards including sightlines, spacing, height, density and facing.
Resets and re-merchandises the floor around upcoming workshops and event themes.
Presents testers and samples in a way that invites customers to handle the product.
Proposes fixtures, display solutions and layout ideas for the Mission build-out.
Holds the brand standard: elegant, upscale and consistent across both locations.
Keeps the floor immaculate, including regular dusting of product, fixtures and cases.

Shopify, pricing and point of sale

Owns product and inventory data in Shopify across both the Sixth Street and Mission locations.
Stands up the Mission catalog, activating products by location, setting opening inventory, receiving transfers from the warehouse and reconciling against physical stock.
Assigns barcodes and prints labels so every item scans correctly at point of sale.
Builds and maintains the Shopify POS layout at each location.
Tags and prices product across both locations following our pricing and signage standards.
Enters and updates pricing and sale pricing in Shopify as directed.
Runs point of sale during events.

Retail floor and stock

Helps customers find and choose product, answering questions knowledgeably and professionally.
Checks IDs. Our spaces are 18+ and sometimes 21+.
Takes accurate stock counts including a full count at the start and end of every event.
Keeps stock organized across both locations including backstock, and restocks the floor mid-event.
Maintains backstock availability so the floor does not run dry on fast-moving items.
Prepares and submits stock order forms to Kinkstore warehouse management via our shared Google Sheet.
Flags when product or consumable supplies are running low.
Transports and stages stock between locations as needed.

Occasional house duties

Light cleaning of the surrounding event space as needed, including wiping down surfaces and bathrooms, sweeping, mopping, vacuuming and trash removal.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES

Hands-on merchandising experience. Has built and maintained a retail floor, not just stocked shelves, and can speak to layout and display decisions they have made and why.
A strong eye for elevated, on-brand presentation and the discipline to maintain it daily.
2+ years in retail including hands-on stock and inventory work.
Prior experience working with adult novelty or adult products.
Working knowledge of Shopify including POS, product and variant setup, and multi-location inventory. Comfortable with CSV product imports and exports.
Proficient in Google Sheets for counts and order forms.
Accurate and detail-oriented with counts and product data.
Sex positive, with discretion and respect for customer and guest privacy.
Reliable transportation between our Sixth Street and Mission District locations.
Able to comfortably lift and carry 30 lbs.
Bonus: visual merchandising or retail design background, experience opening or resetting a retail space from scratch, experience selling at events, pop-ups, markets or festivals, and familiarity with BDSM and kink communities and the products that serve them.

ABOUT RED SYSTEM VENTURES LLC

Red System Ventures was started in 2019 by Peter Acworth. Kink.com video production now happens in Las Vegas leaving Peter with time to oversee the San Francisco operation which consists of physical product R&D / sales. Red System Ventures seeks to make sex toys that should exist but don't. We are investing heavily in new product development and aim to be the leader in innovative, internet connected toys, with a leaning towards 'alternative sexuality' such as BDSM. Culture: we are fascinated by sex toys and work tirelessly, we are excited by the trajectory which includes remote control of toys and integration with our upcoming 'fans' website, kink.com itself, and syncing of toys to movies. Here are examples of projects: https://kinkstore.com/collections/deep-by-kink

WHO ARE WE A GOOD FIT FOR?

We love working with talented people but more than that, we seek out compassionate co-workers with a collaborative spirit. Our work moves quickly and strategy changes fast (startup culture) and we're great at coming together to find creative solutions to our most interesting problems. If that sounds good to you, join us!

HOW TO APPLY

Please send a resume to [email protected]. Please also send a note as to why you think you would be a good fit and what motivated you to apply. We would especially like to hear about a retail space you have merchandised and what you would do differently now. Photos of past work are welcome. Thank you!