Rebeka Skerrett stepped into the manager’s role at Smiths City in Alexandra only a few months ago – we talk to Rebeka about her journey to get there, and what she is focusing on going forward.

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Rebeka Skerrett has been with Smiths City for three-and-a-half years, but only stepped into the manager’s role in January.

“The previous manager taught me a lot, and it was because of his input that I built the confidence and skills to take on the role.”

That support and faith in her abilities was crucial, Rebeka says, in helping her make the move into the leadership role.

“I have the knowledge of this area, the people and this store, and I just needed to develop other skills around that.”

Before making the move to a role at Smiths City, Rebeka says she had been working locally in customer facing roles.

“I grew up here in Central, but moved away to do a two year stint in London as a chef, and then to Melbourne.

“When I had my son, Levi, I wanted to come home to be close to family.

“I had a great time overseas, I’d recommend to anyone to get out of your comfort zone, you learn so much.

“But at the same time it is nice to be back home.

“Central Otago is just a really nice place to bring up kids; I love the outdoors, I love that you’re just five minutes down the road from everything.”

Rebeka prizes time with her son and finds Central an ideal place to raise a family.

Having her son made Rebeka realise she didn’t want to keep working the late nights and long weekends required for a chef, she wanted to be there for Levi. So, she looked for a new career, one where she could transfer her skills including planning, teamwork and focusing on customer experience.

“Skills such as being able to keep a cool head no matter what, and focusing on always giving your customers the best experience they could have.”

Knowledge of success in retail came on the job, Rebeka says.

“I’m definitely someone who learns by doing things.

“I’m happiest when I am learning, so I never stop learning, doing better, improving.

“I also like to spend time helping the next person along with their learning.

“I think that has really helped me step up first from what was basically an admin role, to assistant manager, and now to manager.”

Rebeka says her previous manager had always told her she could do anything he could, and then supported her to develop and achieve. 

Her positive focus on continually learning and growing within her role had now given her a focus on developing others in the team in their roles, and the results are showing in team satisfaction, customer satisfaction and bottom line performance. 

Rebeka says as manager, she is really enjoying building Smiths City into a store that is relevant to today’s changing retail environment, and meets local needs.

“I haven’t done anything crazy since taking on the role.

“Kept doing what works well, at the same time understanding what local people want and need.”

Many of the changes Rebeka has made are behind the scenes, she says. The ‘boring stuff’ that actually makes a big difference. 

And Rebeka must be doing something right – she has had to hire more staff, bucking the trend of many in retail.

“We’ve had the challenges that everyone went through, but we’ve worked on stock levels, holding more relevant stock in our warehouse so things are available faster for people. 

“We get a lot of compliments now when people walk in-store.

“And we’ve maintained sales despite all the COVID disruption.

“It’s meant we have been able to get more people on board again, which is great.”

Rebeka says she sees challenges going forward, but each challenge has its solution.

“Even though we’re being encouraged to shop local, and many people are doing so, there are still a lot who are now buying online.

“They had to during lockdown, and have just carried on.

“Obviously Smiths City does have online sales, but it’s always good to be able to talk face to face with our customers and make sure they’re getting the best product at the best price.”

Rebeka says the whole team is focusing on really looking after customers that do come into the store, giving each one a personalised experience – more special than an online experience.

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