Purveyor of Puzzles (Retail Sales Associate)
🧩 We’re looking for the right fit - could you be our missing piece?
Puzzle Lab is seeking a warm, thoughtful, and engaging Purveyor of Puzzles to join our growing team, supporting customer experience in our flagship store. This role is primarily based in our retail space, focused on creating meaningful, playful, and memorable in-store experiences for every person who walks through our doors. This role will start part-time, with potential for increased hours during our busier seasons, with a mix of weekday and weekend shifts. Our store hours may extend during cruise ship season, holidays, and special events, so flexibility and a willingness to work a balanced mix of daytime, evening, and weekend shifts are important. Schedules are thoughtfully coordinated across the retail team based on availability and the needs of the store. This position reports to our Flagship Store Manager.
About Puzzle Lab Puzzle Lab is a fast-growing wood jigsaw puzzle company with an underlying passion for art, innovation, and creativity. More than that, we're a friendly group of open-minded humans working together to create joyful experiences for our fans and customers. We pride ourselves in our consistent efforts towards environmental sustainability, support of local artists, and an ethical business model.
Puzzle Lab’s vision is to awaken the inner child in all of us. In a world that feels faster, louder, and more serious every day, it’s easy to forget the simple joy of play. But play is where wonder lives; it’s where we reconnect with curiosity, delight, and our most human selves. Our work is about creating nostalgic and whimsical moments that bring people back, even briefly, to that childlike feeling of sincere awe and carefree discovery.
The Puzzle Lab Minifesto
We create quality time.
When people piece together our cleverly designed works of art, they experience challenge, determination, connection, epiphany. Whimsical delight and inner satisfaction follow them far beyond the puzzle table.
Bringing joy into the world through tactile play, Puzzle Lab also commits to doing right by people and the planet. We raise the bar for ethical employment, provide meaningful support for artists, and make environmental responsibility part of every decision.
In a nutshell, we make the world better by piecing broken pictures back together.
Position Overview As a Purveyor of Puzzles, reporting to our Flagship Store Manager, you play a key role in shaping the in-store experience at Puzzle Lab. You are often the first point of connection for our customers, helping guide them through our catalogue, sharing the stories behind our puzzles, and creating a welcoming, thoughtful, and playful environment. You’ll play an active role in supporting the overall success of the store, contributing to both customer experience and sales performance.
This role is rooted in human connection. It’s about reading the room, meeting people where they’re at, and helping them find something that sparks curiosity, joy, or meaning. You’ll also support day-to-day store operations, including sales, merchandising, and maintaining a clean, organized, and inviting space.
Puzzle Lab is a growing company, and many of our systems and processes continue to evolve. We ask that new team members first learn and feel confident in our current ways of working. Once you’re settled, your feedback and ideas for improvement are genuinely welcome.
We’re a collaborative, evolving team, and responsibilities may shift gradually as you grow into the role and as the company grows. Any changes are always communicated clearly, and where appropriate, terms of employment are reviewed together.
Key Responsibilities
Customer Experience & Sales
- Create a warm, welcoming, and engaging experience for every customer
- Assist customers with puzzle selection, sharing product knowledge and recommendations
- Speak to the Puzzle Lab story, including our artists, materials, and process
- Process sales through our POS system with care and accuracy
- Help create moments of connection, curiosity, and whimsical delight in the store
- Work both independently and collaboratively to support daily store sales goals
- Stay aware of store performance and opportunities to better support sales through product knowledge, positioning, and customer connection
Retail Operations
- Support day-to-day store operations, including opening and closing tasks
- Maintain a clean, organized, and well-presented retail space
- Assist with merchandising, restocking, and keeping track of inventory levels
- Support basic loss prevention through attentiveness and care
Team & Store Support
- Communicate clearly and kindly with teammates
- Support a positive, collaborative team environment
- Jump in where needed during busy periods, including cruise ship days and seasonal peaks
Preferred Skills & Qualities
- Strong attention to detail and pride in doing careful, accurate work
- Reliable, punctual, and organized
- Able to communicate clearly and kindly with teammates and customers
- Able to work independently while also being a supportive team member
- Friendly, calm, and thoughtful when interacting with customers
- Familiarity with tools like Slack, Google Workspace, Notion, or Shopify is an asset, but not required
- Willing to learn new systems, tools, and processes
- Comfortable working in customer-facing environments
- Previous customer experience or retail experience is an asset, but not required. We’re happy to train the right person
- Appreciation for creativity, play, and the care we put into supporting artists, each other, and the planet
What We Offer
- $28/hour (certified living wage employer)
- Paid 30-minute lunch break each shift
- Collaborative, supportive, and creative work environment
- Opportunity to grow with a small, evolving company
- Cross-training and skill-building opportunities over time
- Staff discounts on Puzzle Lab and select third-party products
How to Apply
Please apply through our online application with:
- Your resume
- A brief cover letter telling us why you’re interested in the Purveyor of Puzzles role at Puzzle Lab
The cover letter can be short and informal. We’re more interested in your care, curiosity, and interest in the work than a traditional cover letter format.
Puzzle Lab is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to building an inclusive and welcoming workplace and value diversity in our organization.
