Vice President of Store Operations

Vice President of Store Operations

Position Summary

The Vice President of Store Operations is responsible for leading and integrating all store-level merchandising, department performance, pricing execution, promotional compliance, inventory management, and operational performance across all company locations.

This position ensures that operationally that the company’s merchandising strategies are effectively executed at store level while maintaining excellent standards, customer satisfaction, sales growth, gross margin improvement, and consistent brand standards. The VP of Operations serves as the primary liaison between Merchandising, Marketing, Supply Chain, Suppliers, and Store Operations to drive sales, profitability, merchandising expectations, inventory controls, productivity goals, and an exceptional customer shopping experience.

Given the Company's significant focus on Fresh business, particular emphasis is placed on Produce, Meat, Seafood, Deli, Bakery and Prepared Foods performance, presentation, quality, and profitability.

Key Responsibilities

Merchandising Execution Leadership

• Lead execution of all company merchandising strategies across all store locations.

• Drive sales growth by effectively enforcing product assortment, pricing, promotions, merchandising standards, and seasonal programs to highest standards.

• Ensure advertisements, displays, planograms, seasonal features, and promotional events expectation are achieved and promoted.

• Collaborate with the merchandising team to maximize sales, gross profit, and customer value.

• Partner with the finance team to measure and evaluate each store and department’s performance and recommend corrective actions and improvements.

• Focus on the brands points of difference and other company initiatives to improve growth and maintain our competitive advantage.

• Identify opportunities to improve basket size, transaction counts, and customer loyalty.

Fresh Department Leadership

• Implement merchandising and operational standards for Produce, Meat, Seafood, Deli, Prepared Foods and Bakery departments and encourage tasteful merchandising collaboration.

• Monitor fresh department sales, gross margin, shrink, labor productivity, and customer satisfaction.

• Ensure exceptional product quality, freshness, presentation, and service standards.

• Drive seasonal, local, and specialty merchandising initiatives.

• Support innovation and emerging consumer trends across all categories.

• Champion & encourage merchandising across departments to maximize sales opportunities.

Pricing & Promotional Execution

• Lead execution of the Company's pricing strategy.

• Monitor key value item (KVI) competitiveness and market positioning in partnership with merchandising team.

• Ensure pricing consistency and promotional compliance across all locations.

• Evaluate promotional effectiveness and recommend improvements.

• Support initiatives that improve the Company's overall price image and competitive position.

Store Operations Management

• Establish and maintain operational standards across all stores.

• Ensure compliance with food safety regulations, sanitation standards, labor policies, and operating procedures.

• Monitor customer service, store conditions, and execution consistency.

• Develop action plans to improve store performance and operational effectiveness.

• Support store openings, remodels, and major operational initiatives.

Financial Performance

• Drive sales growth, gross margin improvement, gross profit dollars, and overall profitability.

• Analyze sales trends, merchandising performance, inventory productivity, and operating results.

• Develop and monitor store and departmental budgets and performance targets.

• Identify opportunities to improve operational efficiency and profitability.

Inventory & Shrink Management

• Oversee inventory productivity and replenishment effectiveness.

• Improve in-stock conditions while minimizing excess inventory.

• Lead shrink reduction initiatives with emphasis on Fresh departments.

• Monitor inventory accuracy and compliance with inventory control procedures.

Leadership & Talent Development

• Recruit, develop, and mentor store leadership teams.

• Establish performance expectations and accountability measures.

• Conduct regular store visits, merchandising reviews, and operational assessments.

• Develop succession plans for key operational and merchandising positions.

• Foster a culture of customer focus, execution excellence, accountability, and continuous improvement.

Customer Experience

• Champion initiatives that improve the overall shopping experience.

• Monitor customer satisfaction metrics and feedback.

• Ensure stores maintain exceptional standards of cleanliness, presentation, service, and product quality.

• Support programs that strengthen customer loyalty and community engagement.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner with Merchandising, Marketing, Supply Chain, Finance, Human Resources, and Loss Prevention.

• Participate in strategic planning and growth initiatives.

• Lead operational execution of company-wide merchandising and business initiatives.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Merchandising & Financial Performance

• Actively involved in the Operational budgeting process

• Comparable store sales growth

• Fresh department sales growth

• Gross margin percentage

• Gross profit dollars

• Promotional effectiveness

• Private label penetration

• Category performance

• Display and merchandising compliance.

• Inventory controls and shrink management

• KVI competitiveness

Operational Performance

• Shrink percentage.

• Labor productivity

• Inventory turns.

• In-stock percentages

• Customer satisfaction scores

• Food safety audit results

• Store standards compliance.

• Employee retention and engagement

Requirements

Qualifications

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in business preferred, Retail Management, Marketing, Supply Chain, or related field preferred.

• Equivalent grocery retail leadership experience will be considered.

Experience

• 10 years of progressive grocery retail leadership experience.

• 5 years leading multi-store merchandising, fresh foods, and operational functions.

• Demonstrated success improving sales, gross margin, shrink performance, and profitability.

• Strong experience in Produce, Meat, Seafood, Deli, Bakery, and Center Store merchandising.

• Experience in budgeting, forecasting and P&L management.

Skills & Competencies

• Grocery merchandising expertise

• Fresh foods merchandising and operations

• Strategic planning and execution

• Financial and analytical acumen

• Inventory management and shrink control.

• Clear understanding of pricing and promotional strategy execution

• Leadership and talent development

• Customer-focused decision making

• Effective communication and presentation skills

Reporting Structure

Reports To: Chief Operating Officer

Direct Reports:

• Store Managers

• Store Department Managers

• Loss Prevention

• Facility Manager

Success Profile

The ideal candidate should be a operational and merchandising-focused grocery executive who understands how to champion fresh department excellence, pricing discipline, and promotional execution into sustainable sales growth and profitability. This individual is highly visible in stores, deeply knowledgeable in Fresh categories, and capable of creating consistent execution across multiple locations while maintaining strong operational standards.