‘Shopping in Sheffield city centre is only going to get better’, says the boss of The Moor in Sheffield

This is what Amanda Phillips, Centre Manager The Moor, told me when I met her earlier this week to talk about the Sheffield City Centre Retail Awards.

We met in The Moor management offices, where we sat in a room with a big map of The Moor on the wall.

“It’s great been able to look at that and see all the great retailers we have,” she said.

“There’s been a lot of changes to The Moor recently, and most of them have been in the past two a half years since I’ve been working here. I’m very proud to work here.”

Amanda’s pride in The Moor and it's shopping offer is clear, and rightly so.

In her time as centre manager, The Moor has welcomed new openings – the most recent being New Look and Next – and there are more to come, with H&M expected to open its doors soon.

She said: “I’m very proud of what we have achieved and I think The Moor is now a great place to shop. I am very happy working here and I intend to stay here until I retire – which would make this the longest I have worked somewhere.”

Amanda has had a long and varied career in retail. She started her career when she was taken on by Argos as a temporary member of staff for Christmas. She later worked her way up to become a store manager.

From there, her passion for retail saw her moving across the country to take jobs in Chesterfield, Redditch, Covent Garden, Leicester, Norwich and Doncaster, where she managed various shopping destinations. As part of her job at Covent Garden, she chose buskers to perform at the iconic Apple Market.

“I was like Simon Cowell,” she laughed.

Amanda came to manage The Moor as she could see its potential. She was keen to support the Sheffield City Centre Retail Awards to celebrate all our retailers – not just the ones on The Moor.

“These awards are about the retailers feeling valued,” she said.

“Once people come to shop in the city centre I believe they will come back. What we offer gets better all the time.

“We have a range of shoppers here – from the 18-year-old students who are discovering the shops for the first time to older shoppers who have been loyally shopping here for years. We have to look after them all, and I think we do offer something different.

“I love my job because it’s still exciting. After the next stage of The Moor development is done I know we will ask ‘what's next?'. Shopping in the city centre is only going to get better and better.”

Amanda is what she described as a ‘focused’ shopper.“I like to know exactly where I’m going and what I want when I go shopping. I’m a big believer in great customer service too. I believe customers deserve service with a smile, and if I go in to shop with bad customer service I won’t go back.”