A team of Edinburgh College Retail Management students have embarked on their first experience of running their own shop after launching ‘Bizarre-Bazaar’ at Sighthill Campus.
Dean Clark, and his peers from courses including HND Retail Management and NC Retail and School-College Partnership and Retail Assistant Students, have created the new shop space in a bid to give themselves first-hand experience of setting up and running a new small business.
The team was split into various areas including purchasing, marketing, finance, operations and security with each department playing a pivotal role in the setup of the new shop.
Products on sale include: framed artwork by College students, scented candles, Christmas gift sets, cards and wrap, advent calendars and pick ‘n mix.
The shop will be open from 10 am until 2pm, covered by students across all of the department’s programmes.
The shop will be run by volunteers going through the College’s Route 2 programme which provides free advice and support to those seeking employment. References will be provided for the volunteers to help them in looking for future work.
HND Retail Management student Dean Clark said: “We are so happy to have opened our new campus store at Sighthill. It’s been a really busy 12 weeks putting this together, but the team has worked really hard and it’s a brilliant feeling to have finally opened.
“It’s been a brilliant experience to go through, starting from square one to getting where we are now – we’ve all learned lots of different lessons within our various job roles which can only benefit us for the future.
“The shop will be open all week, every week, so we hope to see as many students, staff and even members of the public who may be passing by to drop in and see the brilliant products we have at really good prices.”
Lecturer David Cochrane said: “I’m really pleased to see our students’ store open – it’s amazing. Each of them has worked tremendously hard and has shown enthusiasm throughout the project which has now paid off with the shop officially launched.”
Principal Audrey Cumberford said: “It was absolutely fantastic to be asked to come along and cut the ribbon on this new enterprise experience for our students today.
“This is the first time I’ve ever seen anything like this in any college before, the students have done a brilliant job in pulling it all together – huge congratulations to them and I wish them every success with their new venture.
“Live projects like these are crucial to giving our students the skills they require to be successful in their chosen field as they expose students to potential pitfalls in projects, allowing them to learn how to overcome, improve and thrive – skills which are invaluable in any walk of life.”
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