Role: Retail Manager
Contract: Full-time
Start Date: ASAP
Location: London
We are looking for a passionate and experienced Retail Manager to drive and evolve our two London stores in Soho and Shoreditch.
Our flagship London store has been in its current location on Ganton Street for 8 years, while our second store, located in Shoreditch opened in 2019 as our lifestyle concept store; home to exclusive products from our homeware and lifestyle collections as well as a curated selection of independent partner brands.
In a changing post-pandemic retail landscape we want a Retail Manager to join our management team, working closely with Brand, Creative and Digital stakeholders to lead the growth of our two London stores and evolve our physical spaces into distinct community hubs with a focus not just on footfall and conversion, but also customer retention, in store experience and identity as well as community events, launches and installations.
Responsibilities:
- Management, recruitment and training of a small, dedicated team; nurturing our existing talent and working to define and develop specialist roles within the store team structure.
- Financial accountability, managing payroll to sales budget, revenue and reporting.
- Day-to-Day leadership and management, in store and as the retail link to the Lazy Oaf management team.
- Customer Service, providing an inspiring lead, engaging with customers and establishing and delivering a clear retail customer service, loyalty and retention strategy; growing and nurturing an instore community and working with the wider teams on initiatives to excite, engage and retain in store customers.
- Stock Management, creating retail buys, delivery organisation, stock room maintenance.
- Health and Safety, maintain a safe and healthy work environment for staff and customers in line with our policies.
- Store Accounting, creating forecasts and budgets, maintaining financial records, management reporting and product input when necessary.
- Visual Merchandising, ensuring the store is on brand and maintained in line with the brand creative direction and guidelines; working with the retail team as well as our Brand and Creative teams to make VM a priority, establish and maintain high visual standards and continually improve brand storytelling instore.
- Work closely with Brand team on establishing and implementing a rosta of both community and consumer events, installations and activations to establish our stores not just as commercial spaces; but also experiential brand touchpoints to bring our community together, reflect our core values, and deepen our brand storytelling
- A finger on the pulse of the wider retail landscape, local community, culture and competitors to ensure we are up to date and relevant in our activities.
Requirements:
- Passion about the Lazy Oaf brand and its products
- Minimum of 3 years experience in Retail Management, in the fashion or lifestyle industry
- Affinity and understanding of the Lazy Oaf consumer(s) and brand
- Strong visual merchandising skills and passion for creative display
- Pragmatic – ability to be both ‘hands on’ while also providing leadership
- Experience of people management
- Creative and operational skill sets
- Clear communicator – both verbally and in writing
- Prior experience in a multi-channel brand environment advantageous (ecommerce, retail, wholesale)
- Experience of retail marketing and/or event planning and management is a bonus
- Strong IT literacy, including POS systems and Microsoft Excel
- Ability to set priorities; meet tight deadlines in a rapidly changing environment
- Approachable, team player.
- Self-motivated and willing to work independently.
Hell Yeah! How do I apply?
Please send us an email telling us a bit about you and why Oaf, include your CV and any relevant links to recruitment@lazyoaf.com with the subject title Retail Manager.
ABOUT LAZY OAF
Founded by Gemma Shiel from a North London Garage in 2001, Lazy Oaf is a design-led lifestyle brand with a history of doing things our own way. What started with hand-printed T-shirts sold from a stall in East London has now become an established independent brand, celebrating creativity, collaboration and community first.
We’ve spent 20 years building a family network of creatives and collaborators who have helped shape the brand. We are inspired by a love of youth subcultures, streetwear and nostalgia. There are no pretensions and we don’t follow trends, instead we thrive on our instincts and what feels right for us and our community.
We aren’t here just to make clothes, we are here to support and reflect our culture, use our platform for the stuff we care about, and do the right things for us and our community. We started from a DIY beginning, learning fast and making all the mistakes along the way, and we put that spirit into all that we do.
OUR VALUES:
CREATIVITY
Creativity is our heartbeat; not just our creative output, but our way of thinking, the way we approach problems, the people we collaborate with and how we collaborate with them.
It’s something that is authentic, and intrinsic to the brand, not limited to one collection or marketing campaign; but the common connector between everything and everyone that makes Oaf, Oaf.
COLLABORATION
Both internally, and externally, collaboration is in our DNA.
As a team, we feed off each other's creativity to create what we want to create, with no pre-designed outcomes and input from anyone who wants to give it.
Working with external collaborators we want the same - their voice is every bit as important as ours. Our aim is to build a community of longstanding collaborators - we don’t work with people once and then never again.
COMMUNITY
Everything we do, we put who it’s for front and centre.
We are here to serve, nurture and build our community; from our product offering, to workshops, classes and exhibitions designed to bring our community together, both physically and online.
Our community built our brand from its grassroots beginnings, and established Oaf as a safe space for those who didn’t fit in - we’ll stay open as long as they’ll have us, for anyone who wants to come along for the ride.
DIY
If we believed in buzzwords, Do It Yourself would be the one for us. We celebrate a culture of autonomy and ownership. We like to try stuff, play around, make shit happen and see where that takes us. If we fail, don’t worry, we can try again.
INCLUSIVITY
We are an inclusive employer with a focus on ensuring our team reflects the diverse nature of our brand community. We particularly encourage applicants from BIPOC and/or working class backgrounds.
