My name is Carolyn Bellers and am a Store Manager with Selco Builders Warehouse at our Old Kent Road branch in London. I have been with Selco for 15 years, although I did first join Selco in 2005 as a Deputy Manager when they expanded into Manchester.
I was head hunted after just 12 months with Selco, in 2006 and was tempted by the company car, company laptop and pay rise that was offered to me and so I went off to be a District Manager with Threshers.
At Threshers I had 36 of their Off Licence/convenience stores however, I was again head hunted by McColl’s to go and run 16 of their larger convenience stores. I always missed Selco after leaving. I missed the company and dealing with our customers and was lucky enough to return to them in 2011.
I had started my working career aged 16, in 1992, at B&Q, on the checkouts. My mum worked at B&Q as a Store Manager. She didn’t have me working in her store but decided that she needed to save me from the food factory that I was currently working weekends in.
I spent my first weekend in B&Q, watering plants and can remember thinking, I am not doing this for the rest of my life and by the age of 18, I was promoted to Checkout Supervisor. This was the start of me wanting to progress and do more.
My mum was a ‘stay at home mum’ until the 1980’s when my dad was made redundant several times from his career in the logistics sector. Mum held us together and went from an Admin Clerk with B&Q to a Store Manager and I watched her progression and success very carefully.
I saw my mum deal with some very difficult situations during her career, yet she would get up every day and get herself to work. She was and still is amazing and she always told me that I could be whatever I wanted to be. I wanted and still want to be as strong and as amazing as she is.
When I rejoined Selco in 2011, I was a Deputy Manager and wanted to progress to Store Manager. I worked in Ardwick store, in Manchester and was offered an opportunity to come down to London where Selco were opening new stores and I saw this as an opportunity to progress.
I moved down to London in 2013. In 2015, I applied for a Store Manager role and took part in an assessment day. At this time, I was the only female Deputy Manager at Selco and I can remember feeling very aware of this and very determined to succeed.
I was so proud of this moment. I had been the only female applicant and was one of the successful people out of 20 applicants and I must be honest, there was a lot of people at the time, that did not think I would be successful, and they told me that. I remember feeling that I had to really prove myself as people did not look at me as a Store manager. This only made me more determined to prove them wrong though.
One of my stores, I took from 9th in the company to 5th and we won the first ever, Store of the Year award.
Throughout my career, I have faced many challenges and still do. The biggest challenge is that some people, still, do not think I am a Store Manager and they don’t mind telling me that. I can see no reason for these thoughts other than, because I am female and this happens with Customers, Suppliers and others!
I have however, worked with and still work with, some fantastic men and one quote that I have carried with me was from a Store Manager in B&Q that is no longer with us. When everything went crazy or was really busy and everyone would be fussing and flapping around, he would always say “remember everyone, it is just a shop and it will still be here tomorrow” and then he would say “let’s all calm down”. This usually worked.
To any women out there, that want to progress but don’t know where to start, all I can say is start. There is help out there and there is support, you just need to make the first step and you will not regret it. Believe in yourself and don’t be afraid of making mistakes because everyone does.
