Store Manager - Province-Wide in Downpatrick

At Henderson Group, we are proud to be Northern Ireland’s leading foodservice provider. Our group encompasses Henderson Wholesale, Henderson Retail, Henderson Foodservice and Henderson Group Property. We employ over 6,000 staff and have been placed 3rd in Ulster Business Top 100 Companies 2025. We're a family‑owned team that cares about our people and the community in which we live. Our leaders care about employees and our employees succeed together and celebrate the success of others. We are interested in your aspirations, interests and skills and we strive to support and inspire you to do well. At Henderson Retail, we’re an Investors in People Platinum accredited employer.

We’re the biggest in the market and continuing to grow with new store openings and current store expansions. Depending on the convenience format, in addition to grocery, our range of in‑store services includes Post Office, Occasions, Butchery and Food‑to‑Go solutions with hot food, deli, coffee and in‑store bakeries under internal/external brands such as Barista Bar, Daily Deli, Delish, Greggs and Subway. We currently operate over 110 retail stores in NI and have exciting plans to expand further in the near future.

We are looking for talented individuals to join us at the Store Manager level as part of our growth campaign. We aim to recruit a pool of skilled Retail Managers across Northern Ireland to participate in our intensive store manager training program and be ready to lead one of our fantastic store teams. Successful candidates will have the opportunity to secure positions in various locations across Northern Ireland. If you’re passionate about retail and serviced food and want to work for the best, there’s never been a better time to join us!

A look into the role: As a Store Manager, you will inspire your team to deliver the highest level of customer service whilst ensuring they are happy, motivated, well trained and feel proud of their role within the local community. If you thrive on achieving excellent retail results and love being at the heart of the community, you’ll love life in a company‑owned store at Henderson Retail. You’ll uphold high standards while driving sales and other KPIs and managing costs. You will be required to cover the Post Office when required as part of this role.

• Provide effective team leadership and management to the store staff to motivate and support your team to achieve targets and objectives.
• Oversee and ensure the smooth running of the store.
• Deal with all customer queries consistently in an effective and professional manner.
• Set, drive and achieve sales, gross profit margin, net margin, waste and other KPIs.
• Maintain adequate stock levels.
• Ensure merchandising and presentation of store is of the highest standard.
• Recruit, train, organise and control staff levels to guarantee team excellence.
• Manage employee rostering and annual leave and maintain secure records.
• Actively live our values of Ambition, Customer First, Teamwork and Integrity.

Skills for Success: Joining us as Store Manager the minimum criteria you’ll need is:

• A Minimum of 2 years’ experience leading and developing a team at a senior level within a fast‑paced retail environment.
• Experience of effectively managing targets and controlling costs.
• Commercial awareness of the wider food retail sector and ability to utilise that knowledge to drive sales performance.
• Ability to manipulate and interpret data to support sound commercial and business decisions.
• Competent in the use of IT packages including Microsoft office and retail technology systems.

The Attributes you’ll need include:

• Customer focus with the ability to motivate and inspire others.
• A capable leader with a natural flair for leading and developing a high performing team.
• Time management, delegation and problem‑solving skills.
• Ability to prioritise and multi‑task.
• Genuine passion for local community retailing, food trends and shopper habits.

It is desirable if you have:

• Previous store management experience in the convenience market.

Are we right for you? As part of this role, it will be important that you feel aligned with the values that we live and work by.

• Ambition: We always strive to be better. We seek new challenges and look for ways to do things better.
• Customer First: We provide exceptional service. We put customers at the heart of everything and support our communities.
• Teamwork: We succeed together. We help colleagues to succeed, and we share our knowledge and skills.
• Integrity: We are fair, honest and ethical. We treat everyone with dignity and respect. We are inclusive and champion diversity.

The Reward: The impact you can make with Henderson Group goes far beyond your day to day. You will be part of a business supporting defibrillator installations and school sports days. In the last year Henderson group staff and retail stores raised over £1 million for charity partners. You will have the balance necessary to enjoy your job and your life. We will help you to feel proud of what you do and achieve. And we will be here to celebrate your success. Our business has been recognised externally for delivering excellence in employment. We value employee development and heavily invest in our people. Benefits include attractive salary and annual performance related bonus, Pension, Healthcare plan, Kingsbridge Diamond membership and life assurance, Employee assistance programme, Social club, discount scheme throughout UK/Ireland and staff discount (grocery/fuel) at SPAR/EUROSPAR Henderson Group company‑owned stores.

Working Hours: This is a full‑time position working 42.5 hours per week. The role requires a flexible approach to hours of work in order that we deliver the very best service experience for our customers.

Completed applications must be submitted online by midnight on Wednesday 15th July 2026.