A young woman who trained as a hairdresser before finding her perfect style in retailing is now heading up one of the largest fashion businesses at a Wrexham shopping centre.
Hayley Johnson spent three years studying with the legendary Herbert’s hairdressers of Liverpool before deciding that what she was really cut out for was a career in the retail sector.
After rising rapidly through the ranks of the store group 29-year-old Hayley has now been appointed to lead the large sales force at the adjacent Topshop and Topman stores in the Eagles Meadow shopping centre.
And she says she’s relishing the challenge her important new job presents.
Hayley, who is originally from Woolton in Liverpool, said that despite benefitting from some of the best training available for a life in hairdressing she eventually opted to take an entirely different career path.
“When I left school I was lucky enough to start training with the celebrity hairdresser Herbert at his base in Liverpool city centre.
“Although I enjoyed my three years there I decided that I really wanted to be in retail,” she recalled.
“I’d done some part-time work at a large department store in Liverpool and enjoyed it so much that I made up mind to go into it as a career.”
Hayley joined Topshop nine years ago as a full-time sales assistant at the Liverpool city store and gradually worked her way through various levels of management.
After four years in Liverpool she transferred to the Broughton shopping park near Chester where she became Topman brand manager.
And it was during her time there that her Topman operation landed the company’s coveted store of the year title for the area in 2010.
A couple of years later Hayley transferred to St Helens where she was appointed brand manager for Topshop, then it was briefly back to Broughton where, for seven months, she stood in as manager of both the Topshop and Topman stores.
Later it was time for Hayley and her husband Michael, a teacher in Warrington who also plays part-time football for Caernarfon Town FC, to become proud parents for the first time and 18 months ago their daughter Sophia was born.
Following a spell of maternity leave, Hayley returned to work and a permanent job as manager of Broughton’s Topshop and Topman.
She’s now taken on the role of running the same two stores at Eagles Meadow.
Hayley said: “I was thrilled to get the job. It’s a big responsibility as between the two stores we have a total of 20 full and part-time staff but they’re a great, very close-knit team and I love working with them.
“We’ve already had a big renovation of both stores since I got here, with new décor and flooring, and everything’s looking really fresh and colourful.
“It’s also great to be at the heart of Eagles Meadow and I’m looking forward very much to the new challenge of managing both Topshop and Topman and one of the first things in my sights is for us to win the store of the year title next year.”
Eagles Meadow manager Kevin Critchley said: “I’d very much like to welcome Hayley to Wrexham and wish her all the very best in her new role.”
