Laura Smith overcomes tough restructure to deliver at Sainsbury's Upton store

Winner: Laura Smith - Sainsbury’s Upton 

When a Sainsbury’s store restructure axed the deputy role at Laura Smith’s Upton store, for the first time she was worried.

As a working mum Smith had always maintained a healthy work-life balance while rising up the ranks at Sainsbury’s through great planning and team engagement, working three days a week when her kids were young and four as they grew older.

But Smith, who likes to lead from the front, realised that for the new structure to work, she needed “not to be so greedy with the control” and empowered her food and store leaders while playing a more hands-off strategic role.

The leaders rose to the challenge. And coupled with Laura’s wider people management and business acumen the Upton store performed brilliantly last year, exceeding sales, profits, waste and labour reduction targets.

Laura has always set great store in mentoring to bring out the best in herself and her team. And she doesn’t just support colleagues and other store managers, building mentoring relationships even outside Sainsbury’s. But it’s the manner in which she gets the most out of her staff to achieve the highest retail operational standards that stood out for the judges. Smith’s 187-strong team – all of whom she knows by name – also know she has their back. When concerns were raised about the arrival of much-hyped energy drink Prime Hydration, Smith’s crowd-control plan was widely praised by colleagues and customers.

And “the amazing part” of Smith’s approach, say colleagues, “is that she is able to be highly personable whilst still upholding a high-performance culture in which all colleagues in the store know what is expected of them.

That’s included skilfully managing a reduced staff budget, leaning into staff absences while shaving hours in quiet weeks – but ensuring that for peak seasonal events, the store is perfectly set up to deliver for its customers.