Multi-channel retailer of books, crafts, and screen-free activities
The Works Stores is a 1,000+ employee UK retailer selling books, stationery, toys, games, and arts-and-crafts products across physical stores and digital channels. The hiring velocity is accelerating with 115 open roles (66 posted in the last month), heavily skewed toward store and sales leadership — 56 manager-level positions across 92 sales roles — suggesting aggressive retail expansion or turnover management. Active projects center on merchandising planogram work, store space transformation, and SKU optimization, while pain points cluster around sales performance, high inventory complexity, and seasonal demand alignment.
The Works Stores operates a network of physical retail locations across the UK and internationally (hiring active in Ireland, US, Australia, Canada, and Isle of Man). The product mix spans books, learning materials, toys, games, stationery, and craft supplies positioned as screen-free family activities. Operationally, the company manages a large SKU footprint with planogram-driven merchandising, seasonal promotional cycles, and store standards compliance. The business model combines in-store discovery and community experience (the brand calls this 'Time Well Spent') with organic social media presence on Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest. Support functions operate on hybrid arrangements from a Birmingham headquarters, primarily using Microsoft Teams and BI tools (Cognos, TM1, Power BI, Tableau, Looker) for retail analytics.
The Works uses Instagram, TikTok, Meta, and Pinterest for social marketing; Cognos, TM1, Aptos, Power BI, Tableau, and Looker for retail planning and analytics.
Birmingham, West Midlands, United Kingdom. The company was founded in 1981 and is publicly traded.
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