Department Manager (Grocery & Deli)

Blush Lane is looking for a Department Manager (Grocery & Deli) to join our growing team at the Aspen location in Calgary.

The Department Manager leads the Grocery & Deli team in the retailing and sales merchandise in the department. The Manager ensures that staff properly stock, face, and rotate merchandise to ensure fresh, high quality offerings. The Manager is also responsible for ordering and inventory control to maximize product freshness and availability.

At Blush Lane Organic Market, we believe we can have a positive impact, locally and globally, by actively promoting sustainable agriculture, ethical practices and environmentally conscious actions. As part of our community at Blush Lane Organic Market, your energy and expertise will contribute to creating a healthy and caring workplace that improves our world in meaningful ways, both socially and environmentally.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

Leadership:

• Hire, train, mentor and develop the team of Grocery & Deli employees.
• Assess the performance of individual staff members, address performance issues promptly by giving feedback and outlining corrective actions.
• Recognize and reward employees for achievements or outstanding customer service.
• Work with the Store Manager and Human Resources to address serious employee conduct issues such as chronic performance problems, disciplinary action, or termination of employment.
• Promote cooperation with other departments, acting as a resource to all managers in the store.
• Substitute for other Department Managers in the event of illness or vacation.
• Participate in store management team meetings and Manager-On-Duty rotations.

In-Store Responsibilities:

• Develop strategies and prioritize work with Store Manager to ensure that profit and sales goals of the department are achieved.
• Ensure staff are well trained, have good product knowledge, deliver excellent customer service, and are sales-focused.
• Manage purchasing, receiving, merchandising, rotation and stocking of products for optimum sales and profitability.
• Create weekly schedules, ensuring sufficient staff on the sales floor to meet customer service needs.
• Track and report on labour costs to the head office and Store Manager.
• Attend regular meetings with the Category Manager to review sales, department appearance, inventory, margins and pricing.

Customer Service:

• Serve as a role model in providing excellent customer service.
• Interact with customers to find out what they want and how satisfied they are with the merchandise.
• Address and resolve customer service problems, with assistance from the Store Manager for more serious matters.

Inventory, Ordering, Pricing and Budgeting:

• Oversee for in-store inventory control including routine counts, stock rotation, new product selection and manager specials to reduce overstock.
• Work with the Category Manager to set prices for new products.
• Check invoices for proper costing. Approve invoices for payment and enter them into the department budget spreadsheet.
• Maintain price integrity throughout the department. Check and maintain shelf tags and sale tags to ensure prices are correct. Monitor the local market to ensure prices are competitive and within the target margins.
• Enter new products into the system, ensuring that all new products are in the SMS system before they are put on the shelf.
• Monitor inventory turn targets and margins at the store, report any concerns to the Store Manager and Category Manager.

Merchandising:

• Build attractive and creative displays to highlight current promotional products, high-volume, and high margin products.
• Build displays to promote flyer buy-ins, following instructions from the Category Manager.
• Coordinate with other Department Managers to cross-merchandise throughout the store with promotional products and in-store specials. 

Marketing:

• Understand and work to meet the needs of customers at the specific store location.
• Work with the Category Manager to coordinate flyer ads.
• Order sufficient inventory to support the flyer content and in-store specials.
• Ensure that department staff are able to attend training set up by the Category Manager.
• Attend training required by the Category Manager or Store Manager.

• Strong working knowledge of the natural foods industry and products.
• Strong customer service focus with an ability to understand and integrate customer expectations.
• Builds strong relationships and has integrity and compassion in dealing with challenging people and issues.
• A team builder and player with a proven record for successfully developing, mentoring and motivating teams.
• Strong communication skills, can clearly present information to various audiences.
• Strong problem solving and conflict management skills; able to bring alignment and consensus.
• Excellent organizational and time management skills, ability to manage multiple priorities and competing demands under pressure and tight timelines.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• A Grade 12 diploma with at least 1 year as a supervisor or manager of a grocery and/or deli department. An equivalent combination of education and experience may be considered.
• An interest, background, or work experience in the natural foods industry would be an asset.
• A solid working knowledge of Microsoft Office applications is required (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint); familiarity with Blush Lane software systems would be an asset.
• Must be able to frequently lift 40-50 pounds.