Job Description

Located in our brand new Norwich store to manage a team of 10-15, in a format offering not only a conventional WHSmith offering, but four fantastic brands represented within! You’ll be a customer driven, highly commercial and enigmatic people leader able to harness talent, drive operational excellence and deliver exceptional performance week in week out.

This is an exciting opportunity to be part of WHSmith and Gridserve’s venture providing the UK’s dedicated forecourt for charging electric vehicles. It’s not just the electric charging points that’s bringing sparks to this offer though! Brought together under one roof, we have launched a new food and alcohol range, a coffee counter and Post Office counter along with our core WHSmith products – giving our customers more choice and our teams a retail offer to be really proud of.

What you’ll do
The best store managers take real pride in running outstanding stores, thinking of them as their own. Determined to turn every customer’s visit into a great experience, you’ll lead your team in upholding the highest standards, as you drive sales and manage costs in line with KPIs. This approach will help you meet the challenges you’ll face in this fast-paced, often demanding environment. There’s the added complexity of the varying brands on offer in with our Gridserve partnership too, you’ll have to have your finger on the pulse to efficiently manage, trade and ensure compliance across the four represented brands – delivering excellent service and standards consistently!

There are security considerations and landlord relationships to nurture, plus regular communications with suppliers too. There’s also the employee lifecycle to think about, from recruitment and training onwards. You’ll take charge of your team’s development, ensuring they’re ready to give great service.

What’s in it for you
You’ve got tried and tested retail skills. Here, you can use them to the full. As effectively manager of your own business, it’ll be down to you make sales soar. We have an inclusive culture and welcome innovative thinking – it could open the door to future progression. We’ll trust you to get things done using your initiative and bringing in new ideas. Want more? You can expect some fab rewards, including 25 days holiday, generous staff discount, annual performance related bonus, pension and much more.

Who we’re looking for
Experienced and entrepreneurial, you’re a skilled multi-site retail manager preferably from a service station, supermarket, or food retailing background - in your element when inspiring a team. You lead by example, rolling your sleeves up and helping out on the shop floor, and be confident remotely managing with your strong multisite experience across different units. With this approach, you’ll win the respect of staff at every level, getting the best from each individual and encouraging them to develop. Commercially sharp, you know that putting customers first is key to meeting targets and budgets, and you’ll take full responsibility for P&L.

About us
You may know we operate on the high street, in rail and bus stations, airports, hospitals, universities and workplaces. But did you know we’ve been around since 1792 and thousands of employees across the globe, delivering innovative, new store formats and concepts to keep us ahead of our competition! We continue to grow by putting our customers first and have a strong culture of innovation and entrepreneurialism. At WHSmith we love progressing our people, so there are No Limits to where your career can go!

**Please note closing date for applications is Monday 26th April**