Council backs independent business
Wednesday July 13, 2011
Queen of Shops Mary Portas is bringing a new lease of life to local businesses after dozens of firms signed up to her retailing master classes.
The training sessions are being run by Hammersmith & Fulham Council’s Work Zone service, and more firms have completed courses in the borough than anywhere else in London.
The council is targeting independent, local retailers who want to raise their game in challenging trading conditions.
So far local firms including Jumbucks in Shepherds Bush, Jamie’s Italian in Westfield, The Happiness Centre in Shepherds Bush and luxury crafts company Thomas Lyte in Fulham have all taken part in the Mary Portas training.
Alexis Garnaut-Miller, owner of health and wellbeing company The Happiness Centre, said the courses not only provided great training but also a perfect opportunity for other small business owners to share their ideas.
She said: “Mary Portas’s show is one of the few things I watch on television, so when I saw the Council was bringing her classes to the borough I thought it was a fantastic idea.
“Small businesses have to improve the way we do things, it’s the only way we can thrive right now. People are happy to spend money but we’ve got to do a lot more to convince them to do it with us.”
The Council offers seven ‘Mary Portas master classes’ that help retailers learn skills such as how to display goods to maximum effect, how to size up a customer as soon as he or she walks through the door so you provide a tailored service and having a vision for the future.
Councillor Andrew Johnson, Cabinet Member for Housing, said: “We are a Borough of Opportunity and anyone who has the courage and determination to start their own business deserves our support. We want to see small businesses thrive and encourage entrepreneurship in Hammersmith & Fulham and drive growth in our local economy.”
The courses are being run through the Work Zone, the council’s unique National Retail Skills Academy and recruitment and training service based at Shepherds Bush Library next to Westfield London in Wood Lane. The WorkZone has held highest Mary Portas training course take up in London out of 7 retail skills shops.
WorkZone is run to meet employers’ recruitment & retention needs and often offers cut price or free training. It also advertises real vacancies with almost 100 people assisted to secure new jobs since January.
There are more Mary Portas Master classes being run in July, September and October.
HammersmithLondon, the business improvement district for Hammersmith, is supporting the scheme and will sponsor Mary Portas Taster Sessions for 15 local businesses in the borough at no cost to the business.
To find out how to get these free taster session and all other training on offer to local businesses please call Gurnam Selvarajah at the Work Zone on 020 8753 4693 or email enquires@workzoneonline.co.uk.
