Pop-up shops add to Carrick’s festive retail mix

The initiative, which also involves four businesses from Ballymena, is part of Global Entrepreneurship Week.

The participants enjoyed the benefits of being part of the Start Up Retail Programme which provides the skills to develop their idea and the opportunity to sell their products.

The Mayor of Mid and East Antrim, Councillor Peter Johnston, said: “I am very impressed by the efforts that each of the entrepreneurs have made to get ready for trading at the pop-up shops.

“The products on offer are fantastic and I would encourage everyone to call in and visit the shops.

“I am pleased that council is running this initiative, providing our local entrepreneurs the opportunity to showcase local talent and to test trade.

“This has been an incredibly difficult year for all businesses and we hope that this will assist in a small way to generate income for those involved during the festive season.”

Through online workshops, participants have already started learning about developing their brand, marketing, product pricing, selling in-store and on-line and visual merchandising. In addition, they are also receiving up to 12 hours specialist retail focused one-to-one mentoring which includes product development, e-commerce, brand/logo development and managing a retail business.

The programme will give participants the opportunity to test trade on the High Street in Carrickfergus and in the Fairhill Shopping Centre in Ballymena in pop up shops for a period of four weeks until Saturday, December 12.

Christmas in the borough will look a little different this year but council is encouraging people to take part in a packed programme of seasonal activities and entertainment while supporting and shopping local.

Click here to read: Christmas markets ‘being finalised’ for Larne, Carrickfergus and Ballymena

--

Thank you for reading this article. We’re more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers.Please consider purchasing a copy of the paper. You can also support trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription of the News Letter.