Manager, Floor and Space Planning (Store Support Center, Lenexa, KS)

Manager, Floor and Space Planning

Ace Retail Group (ARG), a division of Ace Hardware Corporation, owns and operates several well-known Ace brands. As one of the largest hardware retailers in the United States, ARG operates more than 260 neighborhood stores nationwide and maintains its headquarters in Overland Park, Kansas. With roots dating back over a century, ARG's success is driven by its people. What truly sets us apart in the industry is our commitment to hiring and developing individuals who are passionate about personal and professional growth and who want to be part of a company built on strong, enduring Core Values: Winning, Excellence, Love, Integrity, Gratitude, Humility and Teamwork.

General Job Summary: The Manager, Floor and Space Planning is responsible for the strategic development of floor plans for remodel candidate stores, utilizing data analytics, prior performance, market performance and the identification of regional or competitive opportunities to determine categories and footages, while incorporating the key elements of the Ace Elevate model.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Floor Plan Development: Remodel Locations
• Lead the strategic development and merchandising execution of Remodel Stores floor plans and merchandise assortments, leveraging Ace Discovery models as well as the Elevate floor plan model as a basis for planning.
• Evaluate prior store and market performance in identified remodel locations to determine category importance/placement and recommended footages.
• Initiate the development of fixture plans with the Facilities team that support the Elevate concept while ensuring that opportunity categories (where identified) are featured appropriately to drive consumer awareness and sales (Apparel, Pet, Seasonal/Outdoor Living, Sporting Goods, etc).
• Work closely with individual Merchandise Managers to address remodel issues and opportunities within key categories, including possible buyback scenarios, transfers or exit activities.
• Support the evaluation of existing POP and fixtures to determine whether they could be reused or must be replaced. Work closely with the Space Planning Specialist on fixture and POP requirements.
• Identify go-forward SKU level assortments and determine non-go forward inventory to support exit activities.
• Process Development: Remodels
• Develop time flows and processes to support the Merchandising elements of floor plan development for remodel stores, working closely with the Store Operations team to ensure consistency with Operations-driven tasks.
• Refine analytics tools and performance metrics to support the development of data-driven floor plan development.
• Support the evaluation of exit activities, processes and techniques that maximize gross margin and minimize obsolete inventory levels, recommending enhancements to Remodel timeline, while being mindful of Store Operations labor requirements.
• Evaluate remodel performance over time to determine areas of opportunity or concern with prior floor plans. Work closely with FP&A to ensure the reporting needs are met that address both strategic Sr Management level discussions as well as tactical discussions at individual department levels.
• Evaluate the sku assortment tools including Order Tool, Pending OSO, Field Localization requests to identify/enhance current process for efficiency or accuracy opportunities.
• Identify process improvements and use of additional technologies/platforms or programs that increase efficiencies and reduce redundant or repetitive tasks where possible.

Other Essential Requirements:

• Ability to exhibit and incorporate our Core Values into daily decisions and interactions with others:
• WINNING In business, money is the score. To win, we must perform, compete, and have fun. At Ace, we win through people- our strength is being helpful.
• EXCELLENCE Excellence honors God and inspires people. We aspire to be the best, to continuously improve and to inspire others by giving the team our very best.
• LOVE Love the people, love the work and love the results.
• INTEGRITY For Ace to win, we need to be able to trust each other. And trust will require us to be honest, reliable, caring, of high character and of unquestioned ethics.
• GRATITUDE We recognize that we are blessed to be in the business of serving others.
• HUMILITY We strive for greatness with a humble, modest and respectful attitude.
• TEAMWORK We will fight the natural tendency for control and credit in favor of collaboration and mutual success, recognizing thatTogether, we are Ace.

Minimum Skills, Requirements and Qualifications:

• BS/BA Degree preferred, or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Refined interpersonal skills to engage with others both written and verbally.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities in a dynamic business environment.
• Demonstrated organizational skills and attention to detail.
• Ability to work independently, be highly self-motivated.
• Analytical thinker, team player, customer-focused, business minded.
• Strong working knowledge of Excel and Microsoft Power BI (charts, X and VLOOKUP, data manipulation and macro execution).
• Thorough understanding of MS Word and strong skills in PowerPoint to support category presentations.
• Travel as required.
• Standing, walking, lifting (up to 25lbs) and climbing.

Compensation Details:

$80,000 - $110,000 per year