On the job: retail graduate gets brand new store up and running

I acted as store manager for nine weeks at a recently opened store in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, as part of my organisation’s training scheme. The store was in a new area so many customers hadn’t shopped at Aldi before and didn’t know what to expect. Part of my task was to make sure that customers understood how the store operates; I was also brought in to train the staff and make sure everyone was working to consistent standards.

A new experience for customers

The way my organisation runs its stores is very different from other supermarkets, so it may seem strange the first time a customer visits. For instance, there are usually only three or four members of staff on the shop floor, whereas our competitors have many more. It’s important to explain our approach so I encouraged the staff to ask customers, ‘Are you new to Aldi?’ This gives us a chance to explain how the store is run and why.

Training the staff

The store assistants had various levels of experience, and some were new to retail. Before I started, the staff members were not yet working as a team, and my task was to bring everyone together and train them. I made sure the staff members were all well trained so we could maintain consistent standards.

In established stores, everyone knows what they should be doing at all times: we needed to create the same thing in a new store. I held regular store meetings to communicate our plans, as well as holding some one-on-one sessions.

One of the benefits of being in-store was that I could see whether people responded to my suggestions. I also worked with the management team to make sure they were consistent in how they monitored the performance of the store assistants.

Developing my skills

At the end of the placement, it was great to see the difference in how the store was looking and running. The feeling within the team improved too: people felt more settled because they knew what they were doing and what to expect. This component of my training was really valuable.

I faced lots of issues, such as training and developing people, supervising how staff were working, and bringing processes into place. This is very much what an area manager does on a larger scale but I only had one store to focus on, with the support of the store’s active area manager.

'Retail was a good choice for me'

I’ve now finished my training and have just been assigned my own area in North Wales. Retail management was a good choice for me after working in buying. I had a lot of transferable ideas and experience, but working in store was new enough to present a challenge and to give me a new direction.

I’d recommend working in store operations because it’s a constantly changing role – the pace is always fast, and you need to act quickly if you are going to be successful. That’s what makes it exciting. It forces you to challenge yourself and keep pushing yourself out of your comfort zone.

Steph Thorp works for Aldi as an area manager. After getting her BA in fashion from Manchester Metropolitan University, she worked for a mail order fashion company, before applying to Aldi’s graduate scheme. Steph completed her training programme and was offered her own area in May 2008.