Stephen Sowders is seeking a career opportunity to apply his 20+ years of retail management experience. He has held various store manager and operations management roles at large grocery and retail chains including Walmart, Dollar General, Eckerd Drugs, and HEB Grocery. His areas of expertise include customer service, operations management, merchandising, inventory control, HR management, budgeting, and team building. He is highly organized with strong skills in business relationships, sales, expense control, and adapting to different situations to achieve success.
1. Stephen F. Sowders
3906 Links Ln. Round Rock, TX 78664 • 254-855-0877 Cell
email: ssowders1@yahoo.com
Objective
● Seeking a rewarding career with a results-driven company to apply my skills and
training to achieve personal goals and total company success.
Professional Profile
● Highly organized, motivated self-starter, with effective operation/management skills
trained to succeed and excel in any environment.
● Resourceful in building relationships with employees and customers.
● Results-driven in all business aspects with a willingness to adapt to any situation to
achieve success.
● 20+ years experience in retail management, merchandising, and operations with large
grocery corporations.
Areas of Expertise
● Customer Service/business relationships ● Operations management
● Merchandise management ● Inventory control
● All phases of HR management ● Sales
● Budget planning/expense control ● Team building/training
Professional Experience
Store Manager, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Round Rock, Texas
August 1998- Current
Responsible for all operations of the total store
● Budget Planning
∙ Sales, payroll, staffing, markdowns, expense control
● Merchandise Management
∙ Inventory control, feature planning, store presentation, shrink control
● People Development
∙ Hiring, training, coaching for success
Previous positions held: Assistant Manager, Zone manager, Human Resources Manager,
Customer Service Manager
Store Manager/Training Manager, Dollar General Co., Waco, Texas
January 1997 – August 1998
Responsible for total store operation and training/developing current and new store
managers
● Training Manager
∙ Train new managers, develop current managers
● Budgeting
∙ Expense control, sales, payroll, staffing
● Inventory Control
∙ Ordering, merchandising, shrink control
● Staffing
∙ Interviewing, training, coaching for success
2. Stephen Sowders ● 3906 Links Ln. Round Rock, TX 78664 ● 254-855-0877 Cell
Assistant Store Manager, Eckerd Drug Stores Inc., Waco, Texas
May 1996- January 1997
Responsible for inventory control for the store and training of store personnel
● Inventory Management
∙ Ordering, feature planning and building, warehouse control, shrink control
● Staffing/Training
∙ Interviewing, hiring, training/developing, coaching for success
Department Manager, HEB Grocery, Waco, Texas
May 1989- May 1996
Responsible for total operation for several departments
● Merchandising
∙ Ordering, display planning, shrink control
● Staffing
∙ Interviewing, training/developing, coaching for success
Departments managed: Grocery, Bakery, Deli, General Merchandise, Service/Front-end
Additional Skills
●Micro-soft Word/Excel
Education
● General Studies, Morgan High School, Morgan, Texas
References
● Jon Lamar, District Manager, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., 254-424-2174
● Jim Duplantier, District Operations Manager, Dollar Tree Inc, 512-203-9914
●Todd Siron, Regional Director of Operations, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., 806-252-3231