Helping Hand From Shopping Centre to New Businesses

STAFFORD, England, February 13, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

The Guildhall Shopping Centre is to help young entrepreneurs and start-up businesses take their first steps on the road to success, by offering them newly acquired retail space.

For the past three years, bookings for the five retail management units (RMUs) on the centre's malls have been outsourced to external agencies.

Centre managers have taken this back in-house, as they felt the prices charged were a barrier to local traders.

They believe the move will particularly help new businesses, who have not had the chance to trade from a shopping centre before.

Further opportunities have been created by the allocation of five other, smaller promotional spaces for traders to use their own display stands and equipment.

The centre's Marketing Manager Anne Graham said: "We always like to help up-and-coming retailers, for example by providing space for pop-up shops, and wanted to take that philosophy onto our malls.

"We've had a lot of repeat business for the RMUs, from national brands and companies like solicitors and utility providers, but we want to bring more variety and vibrancy to the centre.

"We think bringing in some new, local businesses, and giving them a chance to get going without incurring huge overheads will help us to do that."

Prices for the RMUs will start at 200+VAT per week. Traders will need to provide proof of 5m public liability insurance cover.