Shop manager

The role

We are opening a wine shop in Ealing in October, and we are looking for the person to run it. As Shop Manager the shop is yours: the floor, the team, the stock, the customers and the numbers. You will be the reason people come back, and over time you will help decide what they find when they do. You are the key driver of both customer experience and commercial performance. This suits someone who combines real wine knowledge with organisation, ownership and a liking for independent retail, and who wants to move onto the buying side of the business.

Key responsibilities

• Run the shop day to day, to a consistently high standard of service and presentation
• Complete daily handovers to ensure clarity, continuity, and accountability across the team
• Stock management and reconciliation

Customers and private sales

• Sell to our private customer database by phone, email and in person, and grow it
• Build long-term relationships with regular customers, and keep proper records of them
• Handle the shop inbox and see enquiries, quotes and orders through to completion
• Lead seasonal outreach, particularly Christmas

Website

• Look after ealingwinecellars.com: listings, descriptions, pricing, stock levels and content
• Keep shop and online stock aligned, and fix discrepancies quickly
• Write tasting notes and shop content for the website and mailing list

Buying, stock and cellar

• Own the stock end to end: ordering, goods in, accuracy, rotation, shrinkage and the cellar
• Buy for the shop within an agreed framework and budget, alongside our own imports
• Run stock counts and reconcile against the system
• Work to sales, margin and stock targets, and protect margin

Tastings and events

• Prepare, host and follow up in-store tastings
• Run private events in our basement space for up to thirty-five people
• Host visiting producers from France and Italy

What we’re looking for

• Retail management experience, with responsibility for people, stock and takings
• Strong wine knowledge: WSET Level 3, or the same knowledge earned on the shop floor
• Highly organised and detail-driven. This matters to us more than almost anything else
• Reliable, and comfortable taking ownership. A small independent has nowhere to hide
• A confident communicator, in person and in writing
• Commercially minded. Understands margin, not only turnover
• Willing to work a rota including evenings and weekends

Useful, not essential: a personal licence, French or Italian, experience opening a new site.

About us

Ealing Wine Cellars is an independent wine merchant and direct importer in West London, known in the trade as Vin de Vie. We represent a growing portfolio of wineries with a strong focus on France and Italy. We sell to private customers and the trade across two brands: Ealing Wine Cellars for private customers and Vin de Vie for the trade. The shop at 37 Bond Street is a restored 1924 shopfront in the centre of Ealing where all our operations will be based We have long been looking for the right spot and now we need to right person to run it.

Package

• £35,000+ basic salary, depending on experience
• Bonus linked to shop performance and margin
• Staff discount on wine
• 28 days holiday including bank holidays, and a workplace pension

Send your application (CV+ cover letter) to [email protected].

Applications are reviewed as they arrive. All applicants must be eligible to live and work in the UK. Ealing Wine Cellars is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from every background.