Today StartUp Britain launched PopUP Britain, an initiative to assist small online businesses to get their first taste of running a retail outlet.
Many online only retailers would love to open a high street outlet, but the reality is that the costs are often prohibitive, and that’s if a landlord will rent to a new business in the first place. PopUp Britain have opened a retail outlet directly across from Richmond Upon Thames railway station hosting six new retailers every two week. The store will be open for three months and every fortnight six new entrepreneurs will get the opportunity to rent space in the shop.
The aim is to utilise empty shop premises in high streets up and down the country and rejuvenate the complexion of the UK’s flagging high street, while providing start-ups with an opportunity to co-fund the cost of opening up an empty shop. Costs for retailers a minimal at around £135 for the fortnight with AXA providing a short term retail insurance at just £25 for the two weeks.
If you’d like to find out more about PopUp Britain or maybe even rent the shop for your own goods you can find more details on the PopUp Britain website.
The first six entrepreneurs in the Richmond shop are:
Maria Allen Jewellery is a British jewellery brand that features intricate vintage illustrations on cherry wood.
Bertie & Jack who design clever, cool and kooky artwork which features animal and bird cut outs with contemporary colourful prints.
Morrows Outfitters, a Liverpool-based sock designer supplying high-quality tailored socks made in England.
Vulpine, stylish technical cycling apparel design company that produces stuff you can wear on and off the bike.
ElephantBranded bags, for every purchase they’ll also donate a school kit (an ergonomically designed rucksack with lots of pens and paper) to children in Africa and Asia.
and Tier One, a snappy British clothing brand who brings a top-notch, versatile look that is effortlessly stylish.
26 Responses
This is an excellent idea and if my tax payments go towards more ideas like this id be happy.
As opposed to what it seems to currently going on…
Shops and High streets are things of the past,[unless your a charity shop or a fast food outlet]
they can pop up as many shops as they like, it will do no good
when a click of a mouse has it delivered to your door
I used to say that i was a High street retailer with an online presence, now i am an Online retailer with a High street Presence.
When we looked at moving off the High Street to a warehouse or equivalent, i found that the rent/rates were not much different so we stayed put and mangaged to convince the landlord to sell the building to us.
Lee
Its tragic that so many High Streets across the Country are now mainly populated by Charity Shops, Estate Agents, Insurance Agents, Fast Food Shops and of course Closed and boarded up Shops. It might work to bring in a few more people and a few more Stores(even if only for 2 weeks at a time)
I must say that I wonder if 2 weeks is long enough. It is likely that only a small percentage of the local population will even know that a particular outlet is there and if they do know it has closed and been replaced by some other trader before they have time to visit it a second time.
However it is an interesting experiment. I wish it the best of luck and I hope that it succeeds
I dont think the high streets been killed by the internet. If it was then massive supermarkets wouldnt be selling, Electronics, garden stuff, Car oil, etc etc.
The fact is small high streets have been killed by super market chains, Even seen what happens to a high street when a tesco is opened say 2 minutes away or across the road.
Now we have placed like comet and dixons opening out side of high streets.
The rape of high council rates, rents and restrictive planning pushed big business away from high streets and as usual boy did they do a good job destroying where theyd been pushed out from.
It dies,very very slowly and all that remains is food joints, the pound shop, nail shops and other bits.
The internet has changed alot of things things but killing the high street is one crime it didnt commit.
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If this catches on, it will be copied by the supermarkets offering space in their bigger out of town stores.
I must say though, having spent many years in Manufacturing, with retail, the costs now associated with any reasonable presence on a decent high street is so exorbitantly High.
This is one reason why independents simply cannot afford to be there.
I know a local £1+ shop who with the Rent [£80k] + Rates [£45k] + staff [probably £60k] +, +, + has to take over £12k per week just to break even, and that’s not a massive shop, probably only 1800 sq ft.
Footfall is King……
Where I live, Brighton and Hove, the number one complaint I hear very often from shopkeepers and restaurants is the issue of rent. And that’s on top of other costs and sometimes very punitive local business taxes.
The Pop-Up shop thing is a gimmick, but a worthwhile one. I don’t much agree with that Mary Portas on a lot of things but she is right that if you can draw more people make to the High Street then the rest follows.
truth be told this pop up shop thing is just another charity shop
I don’t get it?
You fork out a couple of hundred pounds to rent out a shop for 2 weeks, you then spend £x stocking the shop only to be kicked out when the 2 weeks are up, then what?
Hopefully Tamebay get to interview one of these 6 lucky businesses after the first 2 weeks are up and all will become clear.
If the government want high streets thriving again. they need to introduce permanent tax breaks for high street retailers and reduced vat. Councils also need to reduce rates for high street retailers. We’ve been wanting to open on the high street since 2006 but everytime we review it the figures just don’t stack up, and you’re crippled before you’ve even started.