Write a commentThe Southern Regional College has officially opened a new Retail Training Store at their Newry campus, Northern Ireland’s first purpose built retail training facility.
CEO Brian Doran welcomed over 100 guests, at least 60 of whom were retailers, to the launch of this new facility aimed at meeting the training needs of local retailers. He explained that the store would be used to deliver SRC’s wide range of retail training programmes across all levels.
The facility is also available to be used by local and regional retail specialists. SRC is committed to meeting the needs of local retailers and believes that a practical training environment will assist with the development of staff within this sector. Although this facility has opened in Newry, plans are already afoot to develop further training stores across some of the other campuses in the southern region.
In addition to meeting the needs of retailers, this training facility will also help to increase the demand among our school leavers to follow a career in retail. The retail sector is the largest and fastest growing private sector employer in Northern Ireland with approximately 9000 businesses and 82000 workers. However, over 25% of people working in retail have no qualifications. Mr Doran highlighted the fact that retail is one of the most diverse and exciting sectors to make a career in.
Glyn Roberts from NIIRTA (Northern Ireland Independent Retail Trade Association) and Prof Barry Quinn from University of Ulster also spoke at the event. They praised the foresight of SRC in addressing the training and development needs of the retail sector. Mr Roberts said “NIIRTA fully support this excellent new retail training initiative by the Southern Regional College and would urge the other FE Colleges to follow their lead. It is our hope that this new Training Shop will help produce the independent retail entrepreneurs of the future and thus make a considerable contribution to both the expansion of our sector and indeed the private sector as a whole.” Dr Conor Patterson, President of Newry Chamber of Commerce and Trade officially declared the Retail Training Store open for business! He welcomed this facility as a much needed training environment for the retail sector of the southern region and beyond.
Speaking on behalf of Newry Chamber of Commerce and Trade, Dr Patterson emphasised the importance of retail as a key employer in the greater Newry area. “The key skills needed for a successful career in Retail are transferable to many other sectors so it is an excellent training ground for careers in various other fields. Newry has always traditionally been a trading centre and this Retail Training Store is bringing this concept into the modern age.”
The training store is stocked with a number of items that were kindly donated by some local sponsors including The Good Food Shop, Gordons Chemists, Kellys Building Supplies, Around-A-Pound, Donaghys Shoes, O’ Reillys The Sweet People, Tayto, Sainsburys and Debenhams. Customer service and Merchandising/Visual Display training will be a key focus of the store.
Retail Apprenticeships and Retail Management will also be delivered. There will be master classes aimed at retail owner/managers including Category Management, Branding, Marketing for more Customers and Finance for Retail as well as a Retail Consultancy Service.
For more information on the Retail Training Store please contact Tracy Rice at the Business Support Centre, Newry Campus on 028 3025 9664 or email retail@src.ac.uk.
