Waitrose Lichfield's Barry Griffiths wins Store Manager of the Year

Winner: Barry Griffiths – Waitrose Lichfield

A football-mad family man who describes his son as his “best mate”, Barry Griffiths moved to Waitrose in 2013 because of his close alignment with JLP’s values, which he describes as “close to my own leadership style”.

Strong leadership was certainly required last year at Griffiths’ Waitrose Lichfield store, as it went through a £4.5m refit in the spring. The front-to-back refit lasted three months, causing much disruption, and was followed almost immediately by wholesale business operational changes, which Griffiths describes as “the biggest change I’ve seen in my 10 years in the Partnership”.

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Despite all this, he led his store through a highly successful Christmas, including the best sales in the branch’s 18-year history. The other numbers are just as impressive, including an 8% sales increase on the previous year and profit of £2.3m, up £426k despite the refit, during which the store lost counters, its café, and more.

But it was arguably staff testimonials that struck the greatest chord with our judging panel. Many admitted getting quite emotional at the genuine outpouring of love and appreciation of Griffiths’ “kind”, “fun”, and “supportive” management style.

Judges praised Griffiths’ “genuinely outstanding” achievements during a highly disrupted year and noted that “as well as the positive, fun outlook, he’s got the numbers underneath to back it up”.

Shortlisted:

• Adam Bell-Eteo – Sainsbury’s Tritton Road, Lincoln
• Alex Boak – Tesco Wragby Road, Lincoln
• Ivan Fernando – Morrisons Peckham
• Steven Graham – Asda Clydebank
• Barry Griffiths – Waitrose Lichfield