Christmas & Outdoor Leisure Department Manager

Christmas & Outdoor Leisure Department Manager
Hours: 42.5 hours per week (alternate weekends)
Salary: Competitive, dependent on experience

We are recruiting a Christmas & Outdoor Leisure Department Manager for a high-performing garden centre located in the North West, within easy reach of major towns and transport links. This is an urgent hire for a busy site with strong footfall and significant commercial opportunity.

The centre forms part of a successful and fast-growing Garden Centre Group, recognised for its high retail standards, customer service, and commitment to developing its management teams.

About the Role

This is a highly seasonal and commercially focused management role. For approximately 7 months of the year, you will lead the Outdoor Leisure department, covering furniture, BBQs, patio heating, and associated categories. The remaining 5 months will be dedicated to the Christmas department, where visual merchandising, space planning, and peak-season trading are critical.

You will have full ownership of department performance, balancing creative visual impact with strong commercial and P&L accountability, ensuring sales, margin, and stock are maximised during key trading periods.

Key Responsibilities

• Full management of the Outdoor Leisure and Christmas departments
• Driving sales, margin, and profit through effective commercial decision-making
• Ownership of departmental P&L, budgets, and performance reporting
• Forecasting sales, managing stock intake, and controlling inventory levels
• Delivering high-impact visual merchandising that drives customer engagement
• Leading, training, and motivating the team to maintain excellent retail standards
• Ensuring exceptional customer service during both peak and non-peak seasons
• Maintaining strong retail discipline, stock control, and operational efficiency

The Ideal Candidate

• Proven experience in a fast-paced retail environment, ideally with strong seasonal trading
• Garden centre experience is desirable but not essential
• Demonstrable experience managing departments with seasonality and peak trading cycles
• Strong commercial acumen, with experience managing sales, margin, and P&L
• Passionate about visual merchandising, space planning, and high retail standards
• Confident, hands-on leader with the ability to develop and motivate teams
• Comfortable using retail systems, data, and KPIs to drive performance

Perks & Benefits

• Competitive salary (dependent on experience)
• Staff discount
• Paid holidays
• Pension scheme
• Career development opportunities within a growing group
• Free on-site parking

Interested?

Send your CV today, or for more information, contact Leo at (url removed) or call (phone number removed).