Retail Events Coordinator in Burlington, Vermont at Gardens Alive Inc

The Retail Events Coordinator is responsible for developing, planning, coordinating, and executing a dynamic calendar of customer-facing events across Gardener’s Supply Company’s retail garden centers. Reporting to the Retail Marketing Manager, this role brings our garden centers to life through engaging educational seminars, hands-on workshops, seasonal programming, community events, and large-scale retail experiences designed to educate customers, strengthen community connections, and drive traffic and sales.

This position owns the event planning process from concept development through execution and post-event evaluation. The Retail Events Coordinator works closely with the Retail Home Office team, Store Managers, internal subject matter experts, external instructors, vendors, and community partners to create programming that is engaging, educational, brand-aligned, and operationally successful.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Event Development, Planning & Execution

• Develop and manage an annual retail events calendar across all garden center locations, creating a thoughtful cadence of programming throughout the year that support the customer experience, seasonal gardening needs, retail priorities, product categories, community engagement, and company mission.

• Take ownership of events from initial concept through completion, including timelines, budgets, materials, registration needs, instructor coordination, staffing, signage needs, setup, customer flow, event-day execution, post-event wrap-up and analysis.

• Attend and actively support events as needed, including setup, customer check-in, instructor support, troubleshooting, photography/content capture, breakdown, and other event-day responsibilities.

• Create and maintain event listings within the company’s ticketing platform, including event details, ticket types, pricing, capacity, and customer-facing information. Monitor ticket sales and registrations leading up to each event, make adjustments as needed, and communicate attendance and registration updates with store teams and internal partners.

• Source and coordinate speakers, instructors, vendors, community organizations, etc. who can enhance educational and experiential programming. Partner with Retail Area Manager and Store Managers to identify opportunities based on local customer interests, store needs, seasonality, and available space.

Event Marketing & Social Media Support

• Develop event-specific promotional plans in partnership with the Retail Marketing Manager to build awareness and drive attendance. Maintain consistent event branding, signage, customer communications, and execution standards while allowing programming to reflect the needs of individual locations.

• Capture photos and short-form video at events and throughout the garden centers for use across retail social channels and other marketing communications. Assist with community management and respond to event-related social media questions and engagement in a timely, professional, and brand-appropriate manner.

• Create, schedule, and publish timely event content before, during, and after programming to build awareness, highlight the customer experience, and support future event promotion.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner closely with the Retail Marketing Manager to align events with retail marketing campaigns, promotions, customer communications, and seasonal priorities. Build relationships with internal gardening experts and product specialists to identify opportunities for customer education and demonstrations. Serve as a central point of coordination for retail event information, ensuring teams have the resources and information they need well in advance of each event.

• Coordinate with Creative, Retail Operations, Buying, and other internal teams on event materials, signage, products, displays, communications, and promotional support.

Reporting & Analysis

• Track event performance indicators including registrations, attendance, participation, customer feedback, event revenue, associated product sales, and other relevant measures. Maintain an organized archive of event plans, instructor/vendor information, attendance, costs, assets, results, and lessons learned to improve future planning and create repeatable event formats.

• Conduct post-event reviews to document successes, challenges, customer feedback, and recommendations for future programming. Provide regular event updates and performance reporting to the Retail Marketing Manager and other retail leadership as needed. Use event performance and customer feedback to recommend new programming opportunities and improvements to existing events.

Travel & Scheduling

• Regular travel is required between Gardener’s Supply Company’s garden center locations for event planning, coordination, execution, and content capture.

• Must be available to work select evenings, weekends, and peak seasonal hours based on the retail event calendar. Schedule will vary seasonally, with increased event activity during key gardening and retail periods.

• Experience & Education: 3–5 years of experience in event planning, experiential marketing, retail marketing, community programming, or a related field. Experience coordinating events in a multi-location retail environment is strongly preferred.

• Event Planning: Demonstrated ability to take an event from initial idea through planning, promotion, execution, and post-event evaluation. Exceptional organizational and time-management skills with the ability to manage multiple events, deadlines, locations, vendors, and stakeholders simultaneously. Experience with both small educational programs and larger-scale events is preferred. Strong creative instincts and an eye for visual presentation, customer experience, event setup, photography, and brand consistency.

• Communication: Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to clearly communicate event plans and expectations to store teams, instructors, vendors, and internal partners. Comfortable interacting with customers and creating welcoming, engaging experiences for audiences with a wide range of gardening knowledge.

• Technology: Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite and the ability to learn event registration, project management, communication, and reporting platforms. Working knowledge of Instagram, Facebook, Meta Business Suite, Canva, and similar platforms preferred. Comfortable creating and publishing event-focused social content, including photos and short-form video.

• Initiative & Problem Solving: Self-starter who can anticipate event needs, solve problems in real time, and confidently manage the many moving pieces involved in live events.

• Collaboration: Ability to build strong working relationships with store teams, managers, internal departments, instructors, vendors, and community partners.

• Gardening Knowledge: An interest in gardening, horticulture, sustainability, and customer education is strongly preferred. The ability and willingness to develop gardening knowledge to support educational programming is essential.

• Travel: Must have a valid driver’s license and the ability to travel regularly to all Gardener’s Supply Company garden center locations.

• Schedule Flexibility: Ability to work evenings and weekends when required by the event calendar.