Landlords urged to donate empty units to youth pop-up shop project (From Enfield Independent)

Landlords urged to donate empty units to youth pop-up shop project

2:00pm Sunday 2nd September 2012 in News By Hermione Wright

An Enfield MP is urging landlords to donate empty shops to young people for a month as part of a pioneering project.

MP for Enfield North Nick de Bois is backing the project led by charities vInspired and Retail Trust, which will see 16 to 25-year-olds from Enfield transform a disused space into a pop-up shop.

The programme, called Retail Ready People, will run from mid October to November and aims to provide the young volunteers with skills and experience in the retail industry.

The MP visited Church Street in Enfield Town this week with Danielle Domanski, from Retail Ready People, founder of the Empty Shops Network Dan Thompson, and Enfield's town centre manager Mark Rudling.

Mr de Bois said: “Enfield has been chosen as one of the very first Retail Ready People locations. This is a unique opportunity to use empty spaces in a meaningful way.

"I am urging property owners and agents to contact vInspired to discuss how they can lend their support to this excellent opportunity for our young people.”

Mr Rudling is also asking landlords to get on board with the campaign.

He said: “There are loads of benefits for landlords. By giving the empty space to our local young people the landlord will be helping to drive footfall to the town centre while also helping to maintain the value of the property.

"I think it’s a great idea and recommend anyone with a central space to get in touch with vInspired as soon as possible.”

Dan Thompson will support the young people while they manage the pop-up shop. The volunteers will take charge of stock control as well as marketing, branding, shop-fitting and staffing.