Help offered to improve Wolverhampton shops in Portas scheme

Forty retailers in the city centre will be given the know-how and guidance of some of the Black Country's leading visual merchandising experts as part of the Shape up your Shop scheme set up with some of the £100,000 winn-ings given to the city when it was chosen as a Portas Pilot to boost regeneration.

Wolverhampton was selected ahead of stiff competition from 371 other locations across the country. Some £50,000 of the cash has been spent on an Idea2Reality competition aimed at giving would-be business bosses in Wolverhampton the chance to set up shops in empty buildings and boost the city's retail scene.

As a result several new shops have already opened including the Shop in the Square in Queen Square which will give traders the opportunity to show off their products and services

The Shape up your Shop scheme has been drawn up to improve footfall, sales and profitability of small traders.

Stourbridge College's Black Country Skills Shop, part of the National Skills Academy for Retail will lead the project with the support of retail skills students from the Kidderminster Academy. Visual merchandisers and key management from House of Fraser, Boots, Marks & Spencer and Wilkinson will also be involved.

Kim Gilmour of city centre company WV One which devised the project said: "One of the key Portas principles is for larger retailers to support independents and I am thrilled with the response, both from independent shops wanting to take part and from some of the biggest names in Wolverhampton city centre volunteering to be mentors."

Tina Dalzell, from Stourbridge College added: "I will be offering retailers key pointers on how to promote themselves through quality customer service, vision, presentation and range of goods in order for them to offer the best possible service."

The Shape you your Shop team will be start this month.