Title: Store Director
Reports To: Megan Palmer Rivera, CEO
Overview:
Palmer’s Market is a thriving, high-touch retail organization committed to delivering exceptional food, hospitality, and shopping experiences. As a leader in the specialty grocery industry, we are seeking a dynamic and experienced Store Director to own the full day-to-day operation of the store, lead our team, protect and improve profitability, ensure building and systems readiness, and elevate every aspect of the customer and employee experience.
This role is responsible for the store's overall success, with a primary focus on profitability, product quality, and customer experience. The Store Director leads and develops department managers, ensuring each department achieves its financial and operational goals.
At Palmer’s, our leadership is grounded in our core values - PIER: Passion, Innovation, Excellence, and Responsibility. We are looking for a leader who brings these values to life through strong leadership, high standards, and consistent results.
Job Description:
The Store Director serves as the on-site owner of Palmer’s Market and is accountable for the full performance, condition, readiness, profitability, and day-to-day execution of the store.
Success in this role requires a leader who is willing and able to respond with urgency when the business, building, systems, team, or customer experience requires immediate attention, including after-hours emergency situations.
This is a hands-on leadership role requiring a data-driven operator who can build systems, develop leaders, optimize labor, and continuously improve execution across the store.
Key Responsibilities:
Leadership & Team Development
- Lead, coach, and develop department managers to achieve sales, margin, and labor targets
- Build a culture of accountability, ownership, and continuous improvement
- Model and reinforce Palmer’s core values (PIER: Passion, Innovation, Excellence, Responsibility)
- Recruit, train, and retain top talent across all departments
- Provide clear, kind, and consistent feedback; hold leaders accountable to performance standards
- Drive cross-department collaboration to maximize total store performance
Business & Financial Performance
- Own total store P&L performance, including sales, gross margin, shrink, and labor
- Ensure each department meets or exceeds its financial goals
- Analyze sales, margin, and operational data to identify opportunities and drive profitability
- Partner with department managers to create and execute action plans to improve results
- Use data and reporting tools to make informed, strategic decisions
Labor Management & Productivity
- Ensure the store has the right leadership coverage at the right times, including weekends, holidays, peak periods, and operationally sensitive windows.
- Manage and optimize labor budgets, scheduling, and staffing models across all departments
- Monitor and improve sales per labor hour and labor %, ensuring alignment with business performance
- Ensure department managers effectively plan labor based on sales trends and business needs
- Drive labor efficiency while maintaining high standards of service and execution
Operations & Execution
- Serve as the primary on-site owner for daily store operations, building readiness, and execution across all departments.
- Maintain impeccable store conditions, merchandising, cleanliness, safety, and in-stock levels at all times.
- Oversee the reliability, service, and escalation process for all critical store systems, including POS/ECRS, registers, scales, phones, internet, refrigeration/rack systems, electrical, HVAC, plumbing, security, and other operational infrastructure.
- Coordinate directly with service providers, vendors, technicians, and contractors to resolve store, building, and systems issues quickly and completely.
- Maintain vendor contact lists, service schedules, preventive maintenance routines, warranties, service records, and escalation protocols for all critical store systems.
- Respond with urgency to operational disruptions, equipment failures, refrigeration alarms, power issues, technology outages, safety concerns, and other store emergencies, including after-hours situations when needed.
- Ensure all departments consistently deliver high-quality, fresh, visually compelling products that meet Palmer’s standards.
- Ensure compliance with all health, safety, food safety, sanitation, cash handling, asset protection, and loss prevention procedures.
- Partner with department managers to identify inefficiencies, implement systems, solve root-cause problems, and continuously improve store performance.
- Protect the business by maintaining strong standards around shrink, theft prevention, safety, customer trust, equipment care, and operational discipline.
Customer Experience & Service Excellence
- Champion an exceptional, hospitality-driven customer experience
- Evaluate and continuously improve customer service standards across all departments
- Build and implement training systems to ensure consistent service and execution
- Address customer feedback and resolve issues with urgency and professionalism
- Create systems that ensure every customer interaction reflects the Palmer’s brand
Merchandising & Product Strategy
- Drive merchandising strategies that increase sales, margin, and customer engagement
- Partner with department managers and vendors to curate exciting, high-quality assortments
- Stay ahead of trends across grocery and fresh categories
- Support innovation through new products, seasonal offerings, and in-store experiences
Qualifications:
- Proven experience as a Store Director or senior leader in a high-volume grocery or specialty food retail environment
- Deep knowledge of both grocery and fresh departments (produce, meat, seafood, deli, prepared foods)
- Strong financial acumen with experience managing P&L performance
- Highly data-driven with the ability to translate insights into action
- Experience with POS systems such as ECRS (or similar platforms)
- Exceptional leadership, coaching, and team development skills
- Strong organizational, operational, and problem-solving abilities
- Passion for food, retail excellence, and delivering an outstanding customer experience
Role requires the ability to:
- Sit, stand, and walk for extended periods throughout the workday.
- Work at a computer and use standard office equipment for prolonged periods while managing purchasing, inventory, and reporting functions.
- Move throughout the entirety of the Market including sales floor, bakery, production, receiving, storage, cooler, and freezer areas as needed.
- Bend, reach, stoop, kneel, and occasionally climb ladders or step stools when conducting inventory counts or verifying product locations.
- Lift, carry, push, and pull up to 30 pounds on an occasional basis.
- Handle and inspect food products, packaging materials, and operational supplies.
- Work in varying temperature conditions, including refrigerated and freezer environments, for short periods of time.
- Ability to communicate effectively with team members, vendors, delivery personnel, and other departments in person, by phone, and electronically.
Why join Palmer’s:
This is a rare opportunity for an experienced operator to step into true ownership of a beloved, 100+ year independent specialty grocery business and help lead its next chapter.
Employee Classification: Exempt, Full Time
Effective Date: June 2026
Pay: $140,000.00 - $150,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Dental insurance
- Health insurance
- Paid time off
- Parental leave
- Vision insurance
Work Location: In person
