Flower Shop Assistant

Carolina Flowers Shop Assistant


16-24 Hours Per Week, Thursday, Friday and/or Saturday/Sunday


Approximately 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Hours may vary.


$16 per hour depending on experience


Seasonal position. Possible winter break mid-December through the end of March, depending on business needs.


Carolina Flowers is Asheville’s flagship flower company, providing flowers from our fields to customers all over the metropolitan area through our delivery business. We also offer floral design services for weddings and events and sell our blooms at farmers markets.


Our shop, Carolina Flowers Mercantile, serves as both our retail showcase and our production area. All blooms come here after they leave the farm for processing, storage and arranging. It’s an exciting and beautiful place to work!


Carolina Flowers Mercantile offers a curated selection of homewares, gifts, outdoor gear, books and more to complement our flowers.


The Flower Shop Assistant will be responsible customer service and support for Florists as they prepare event and daily orders.


This role does not involve floral design or arranging, although an interest in these things could eventually lead to training in these areas eventually.


Job Description


The Shop Assistant should encapsulate the spirit of Carolina Flowers with an upbeat, positive attitude and a genial, kind demeanor. The shop assistant will often be the first person customers see when they interact with Carolina Flowers, so cordiality and conversation skills are a must.


A basic understanding of agriculture, florals and/or Asheville’s local maker culture will be helpful. A good memory for stories and product details is essential.


While customer service is a big part of this role, the Shop Assistant will also be responsible for maintaining a clean and organized space and restocking the shop from backstock. The Shop Assistant must be proficient with barcode systems and labeling items for sale. The Shop Assistant must be able to use a POS system and back-end computer software to update inventory, create labels and more.


The Flower Shop Assistant will support all floral functions at Carolina Flowers. That means preparing vases for florists, bringing in flowers from the cooler, washing buckets, washing vases, maintaining a clean and organized space, sweeping, emptying compost bins, occasionally processing flowers (after training), loading vans and joining the event crew for the occasional installations.


Because we are a fast-paced, quickly growing company the Shop Assistant should be flexible and excited about pitching in with other company initiatives as needed, whether that means washing buckets or helping execute a glamorous photo shoot. As a member of our team, it’s likely we will ask you to participate in outside-the-box team initiatives. We have fun, but we work very hard!


A typical week might unfold as follows. Thursday: moving buckets of flowers, setting up the stem bar, helping customers, answering phones, prepping vases, washing buckets, sweeping up, moving arrangements to the cooler, clearing workbenches and resetting the space at the end of the day. Friday: processing flowers, emptying boxes of vases onto the shelves, organizing supplies, helping customers at the cash register, answering the phone, assisting a florist with wrapping boutonnieres, washing buckets, resetting the space, farmers market prep. Saturday or Sunday: helping load vans for events, resetting the space after load out, working the register and/or assisting an event installation crew.

Flower shop work is very physical. Successful candidates will be comfortable standing, walking and moving for most of the day. You should be able to lift and carry up to 50 lbs on a regular basis.


Requirements


  • Amiability and a genuine interest in customers
  • Excellent customer service skills and customer service experience
  • Able to operate a phone system and take orders via the phone
  • Able to operate a POS system
  • Ability to learn new software quickly and engage with our digital inventory system without making mistakes
  • Understanding of barcodes and payment processing
  • An upbeat, positive attitude that comes across in everything you do
  • Enthusiastic team player
  • Attention to detail
  • Organized and efficient
  • Resiliency and indefatigability
  • You must be able to listen to feedback, admit mistakes and move forward
  • Punctual and reliable
  • Excitement about becoming part of a quickly growing company and an interest in becoming more involved
  • Ability to lift and carry up to 50 lbs on a regular basis