A new charity partnership is recruiting young people who want to enter the retail industry to run pop-up shops.
Retail charity Retail Trust is working with vInspired, a charity for young people, to create a new volunteering programme called Retail Ready People (RRP).
The programme offers young people aged 16-25 the opportunity to take part in a free 12-week skills course.
Working as part of a 30-strong team in each location, young volunteers will take over an empty shop for up to one month and transform it into a creative retail space.
The volunteers will manage all aspects of the shop including customer service, visual merchandising, stock control, branding, PR, marketing, finance, decorating shop-fitting and staffing.
RRP will run in 10 high street locations across England between 2012 - 2014, with Brighton & Hove and Enfield confirmed as the first two locations for 2012.
Retail Trust and vInspired are urging all retailers operating in Brighton and Enfield to invest in their employees by encouraging them to apply for the free programme.
Retail Trust chief executive Nigel Rothband said: “Brighton and Enfield have a fantastic mix of young people and retailers. I would urge retailers big and small to show support for their employees’ development and get involved in Retail Ready People.
“Encourage your staff to apply, give them a chance to shine, gain new skills, confidence and the opportunity to bring those new found skills back to your business.”
The partnership is also appealing to landlords to donate an empty retail unit in Brighton and Enfield from October 1 to December 12 to help the young people transformempty units into pop-ups.
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