PopUp Britain - entrepreneurs get taste of the high street
Yesterday Startup Britain opened its first PopUp Britain shop, offering start-up entrepreneurs a unique opportunity to experience life on the high street.
The shop has launched in Richmond, Surrey, and has enabled six growing businesses to get a prominent position on a busy high street at low cost for two weeks.
The six businesses first up with this great opportunity are:
The launch comes just days after the Government announced that it plans to make it easier for temporary retailers to take on disused outlets for short periods - a response to the much publicised Portas Review.
Despite the economic malaise gripping the UK, independent retailers are continuing to make their presence felt on the high street. At the PopUp Britain launch Clare Rayner, the retail expert, highlighted that over the last 12 months there has been a net gain of 2,500 independent shops - compared to a net fall from multiple retailers of 1,000.
Despite, that with an average 14.5% vacancy rate on high streets, there should be plenty of potential for independents to grow.
All of which makes us at Global Entrepreneurship Week think: what could be done during Global Entrepreneurship Week to take advantage of disused shops on the high street? Is anyone thinking of running a pop-up shop during the week, to help entrepreneurs market their products? What about being creative and running a pop-up event in an unusual location?
We'd love to hear any creative ideas out there - tweet us or post on our Facebook page to tell us what you're doing!
