Young High Street Challenge winner 'Retro Shack' opens
Teenagers have officially launched their bid to save the high street creating a festive buzz on one of the busiest Saturdays for traders in the countdown to Christmas.
After two years of hard work the youngsters officially opened their ‘Retro Shack’ venture on Saturday in one of Britain’s "rising star” High Streets.
Crowds gathered in the street to support the school children, aged from 13 to 17, as they cut the ribbon to declare the shop open.
The team from Wrekin College picked up £20,000 to launch the scheme after winning Telford & Wrekin Council’s Young High Street Challenge Competi-tion in a Dragons’ Den-style event.
Their idea to ditch screens and technology to raid the spoils of the past for an experiential shopping outlet in Wellington won over the judges.
They have spent months negotiating leases, hiring staff, acquiring a supply chain of stock, devising marketing plans and organising a refit of the new premises in Duke Street.
Managing Director of the Retro Shack Joe Manton, 15, said the majority of pupils working on the project studied business studies and it allowed them to apply their learnings in the classroom to real life.
Other departments at the school including design and technology had also stepped in to help make the shop a reality, he said in a speech to celebrate the opening.
Councillor Lee Carter, Telford & Wrekin Council’s Cabinet Member for Fi-nance, Commercial Services & the Borough Economy, praised the school for a “fantastic achievement” which was part of a massive programme of investment carried out across the borough to support high streets and engage young people to create high streets of the future.
“I have been involved in a business and I know how much planning and heart-ache it takes to get it to this stage and I want to congratulate Wrekin College on what is a fantastic achievement. We are committed to supporting business-es on the High Street and looking at innovative ways in which we can bring something new to our High Streets to secure a strong future for traders across the borough."
Headmaster at Wrekin College Tim Firth said he was immensely proud of the team and most pleased with the fact that the Retro Shack had been “pupil-driven”.
“At Wrekin we are serious about producing competent and good candidates for the workforce. This day is proof that Wrekin pupils have a ‘can do’ attitude and an entrepreneurial spirt. Here they are opening stores in their community. It is really important when you are plugged into a community you try and plug in as far as you can get and Wrekin working with Wellington is what business is surely all about.”
The Young High Street Challenge was run as part of Telford & Wrekin Council’s Pride in Our Community Fund which identified six Telford borough town high streets that need rejuvenating including Wellington.
Wrekin College invested £1million in creating the business school to help blend the corporate world and the classroom and it has hosted dozens of indus-try leaders, high-profile business events and helped support numerous young entrepreneurs since it opened in 2017.
