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Ink & Ember | Queensgate Shopping Centre, Peterborough | Full-Time

We're Ink & Ember — an independent bookshop and café with a big personality, a loyal community, and a very particular aesthetic. Our Stamford shop has been a home for book lovers, slow mornings, and great coffee, and now we're opening our second location at Queensgate Shopping Centre in Peterborough. We're looking for a Store Manager to lead it from day one.

This isn't a role for someone who wants to clock in and clock out. We want someone who will care about this shop the way we do — who'll know the regulars by name, champion the right reads, maintain an exceptional café offer, and make Ink & Ember Peterborough feel like the best place in the city to spend an hour (or three).

What you'll be doing

• Leading and managing the day-to-day running of the shop and café
• Recruiting, training, and scheduling a small team of barista-booksellers
• Maintaining our stock, merchandising, and visual identity to brand standard
• Overseeing café quality, supplier relationships, and till operations
• Running events, supporting the online shop, and feeding back to the founder
• Keeping the team motivated, the shop beautiful, and the customers happy

What we're looking for

• Proven experience managing a retail or hospitality team (independent sector a big plus)
• A genuine love of books and/or coffee — ideally both
• Strong commercial instincts and confidence managing a P&L
• Someone warm, organised, and unflappable under pressure
• A natural leader who brings out the best in the people around them
• Flexibility to work across our full opening hours, including weekends and late Thursdays

Our opening hours

Monday – Wednesday & Friday – Saturday: 9:30am – 5:30pm Thursday: 9:30am – 8:00pm Sunday: 10:00am – 4:00pm

What we offer

• A competitive starting salary, reviewed after probation
• A permanent, full-time role at the heart of an exciting new opening
• Staff discount on books and café
• A creative, independent working environment where your ideas are welcome
• The opportunity to grow with the brand as we expand

If you'd like to be part of building something special in Peterborough, we'd love to hear from you.

To apply, send your CV and a short note about why Ink & Ember is the right fit for you to peterborough@inkandember.store