Pop-up shops are being used more frequently in the local area and at Telford College, there’s no exception!
Having been set up 2 years ago, the pop-up shop is situated in Rendezvous, our college hub. Throughout the winter season, several learning groups within our Foundation department have been participating in the running of the shop. The shop was set up with the aim of providing students with the opportunity to experience realistic work experience in retail with the benefit of it being in a supportive environment.
Kristy Stuart, Foundation Lecturer, said, “The Pop-Up Shop is continuing to grow from strength to strength, having increased the number of trading days this year. We have lots of exciting plans for the coming year and aim to continue to increase the amount of days we open for, so watch this space!”
It was initially stocked with pre-loved items, donations of goods from various businesses such as WMS and Tesco and products lovingly produced by our students themselves. Following the success of the first year, there is now a fund that is able to be reinvested into stock and resources for students to produce further goods.
Having been opened for seasonal events throughout the year, the shop provides a range of gifts, stationary, seasonal plants and greetings cards. This year there was an emphasis on collaboration across the college, as the engineering department and art department students have been on hand to help with more practical elements of the gift creation such as drilling holes and advising on decorating.
The increased confidence that this opportunity provides is evident in comments from the students themselves, Tammy Wright Hartley stated “After working in here last year, I now help to support other students using the till as I know what to do” and Byron Smith said “I never wanted to do any work experience but got some confidence working in the Pop-Up Shop and can’t believe I’m doing some work outside of college”.
The students are very proud of their work and enjoy helping in the shop with aspects from creation, to stacking the shelves and displaying products, stocktaking, price-checking and operating the till – this skill development is a chance for the students to gain knowledge of working in a retail setting with members of the public, as well as developing life skills.
If you would like to learn more about our foundation learning, you can check out our courses here and to meet our tutors and take a look around the campus, you can come along to our next open event on 23 January by registering here.
