Oracle Retail Week Awards: Hobbycraft sets management standards

It takes real determination to win the NCR Store Manager of the Year award, and Stephanie Hush, manager of the Hobbycraft store in Dundee, has it in spades.

The judges describe Hush as “hugely proactive and highly competitive with bags of energy”, and continue: “Stephanie was passionate about the business and had a wonderful mix of understanding people along with the commercial aspect of retailing.”

Hush was appointed as the manager before the store opened in October 2011, allowing her the chance to build the operation from scratch and recruit her own team.

Her aim was to create the best-performing store in the company within 12 months, and she seems to have had much success: not only has her team achieved great customer service results, it also delivered the retailer’s biggest ever outperformance of a store’s first-year sales budget.

This kind of success isn’t easy - it takes skill, energy and determination. Hush has worked hard to strengthen ties with the local community, recognising that new customers and strong relationships are the best way to build sustainable sales growth. The team has built links with the local girl Guides group, primary schools and the Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design, and has recently started speaking to the Scottish Women’s Rural Institutes. Staff also attend local events to show off their wares with creative demonstrations in a bid to inspire people to try new crafts and visit the store.

This friendly approach continues in the Hobbycraft store, with plenty of craft activities and demonstrations and a knitting group that meets there on a weekly basis.

Hush hasn’t been one to rest on her laurels, however, and has identified several aspects of the offer in Dundee that could be improved in order to boost sales further. Team members undergo regular training sessions to make sure that they’re always improving, and there is a new focus on selling more big-ticket items. Hush’s incentive policy will also continue: the staff are constantly encouraged to keep pushing for even better results.

Not only is Hush’s approach good for sales, she is helping to spearhead a new approach to store management across the company.

The retailer is in the process of making store managers responsible for the entire catchment around their store, ensuring that Hobbycraft is geared up for a multichannel world and that stores don’t view online sales as cannibalising their own. It is Hush’s wider perspective and focus on the community as a whole that has helped to drive this.

Hobbycraft bosses say that Hush is helping to set the standard for subsequent new stores, and her competitive approach, enthusiasm and good ideas have had an impact on her store manager colleagues. She has spoken at the store manager conference, introduced initiatives that were subsequently picked up by others, and trained staff members who have gone on to run their own shops.

As with any strong leader, Hush has the commercial nous to do well in business and the engaging personality that gets other people on board. And as her Hobbycraft bosses would no doubt agree, she’s a worthy winner.