A day in the life of a shop manager
Charlee White
Meet Charlee, our Bicester Shop Manager!
Our Bicester Warehouse is our largest store – selling everything from furniture to books – and raises essential funds to help keep our hospice doors open. Here, Charlee takes you on a busy day in her life.
8:30
I arrive at the Bicester Warehouse and get started with my morning jobs! This includes putting money in the till, making sure everything’s tidy and safe, and opening the store up.
8:55
Put the kettle on to make sure the water’s fresh for when my team arrives.
9:00
Staff and volunteers are starting to arrive, so I take this opportunity to check my emails. We’re now taking free furniture collection bookings online, so I reply to supporters who have placed a booking overnight.
9:10
Walk around the store to check our stock levels, and note down what I can ask our lovely volunteers to do today.
9:20
Most volunteers have arrived, so we gather in a little huddle to set up the day and share our priority jobs. It’s great to have this morning check in before the store gets too busy! Volunteers help out in so many ways and they are an essential part of the team – from managing the till to sorting stock.
9:45
I find it easiest to rotate around various sections during the day as the day always flies by. No matter how busy we are in the backroom, we make sure that on the shopfloor we are well stocked and have a calm shopping environment for our customers so they can enjoy mooching around the store.
11:30
Spend some time at my desk speaking to another Sobell Shop Manager who has requested some donations to transfer over to their store. This is a common process for us and I package the items they’ve requested so they can be delivered by the drivers. We have nine shops across Oxfordshire and it’s important that we stay in touch as we receive all sorts of unique items each day. Higher value or more unique or collectable items are sold on our eBay store.
12:30
Do next week’s rotas for staff and volunteers.
13:00
Grab some lunch and check in with my team.
13:30
Meet with the drivers who are dropping off various donations, including a nearly-new sofa and lovely wooden cabinet.
14:15
I spend some time chatting to customers and donors to see if they have any moves or clearouts coming up. Many don’t realise that we have our new furniture collection service up and running yet, so it’s a chance for me to help make their move or clearout as easy as possible! I also share our new Stock Levels tool, which gives donors an idea of how packed full of donations we are that day, so they don’t waste a journey if we’re full.
15:30
We’re in the process of setting a new (and improved!) donation drop-off point, so I spend some time hearing feedback from staff and implementing their suggestions to ensure a smooth donation experience for donors.
16:00
I spend the last part of the day pricing furniture and doing a bit of PAT testing on the electrical donations that have come into store. This ensures that electricals are safe to use when they are taken to their new homes.
16:30
I manage to finish on time today so I lock up the store and say goodbye to my team. As I reflect on another busy day, I always feel proud to help raise money for the charity and am so grateful to our loyal and new customers and donors – we couldn’t do it without them!