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Skills shop will help growth of retail industry

A skills shop – the first of its kind in Hampshire – has opened at Basingstoke College of Technology.

The Retail Links Hampshire Skills Shop – a training scheme that aims to provide high-quality training for management and employees – was launched at Blackwell Bookshop, at BCOT’s Worting Road campus last Friday.

Licensed by the National Skills Academy (NSA) for Retail, the Skills Shop is one of a growing network of professional development and enterprise centres designed to support the continued growth of the retail industry.

According to Retail Links – which is a partnership of BCOT, Eastleigh College, Brockenhurst College and Highbury College – with the current recession still affecting the country, there has never been a better time to train if businesses want to not only survive, but grow and thrive.

Alan Gwyer, director of business development at BCOT, said: “The Hampshire Skills Shop for Retail is a significant development for BCOT, which is already a regional centre for best practice in retail training and one of the few colleges in England to offer the fashion retail level 2 and level 3 programmes.

“It will offer new training developed by the industry that will be exclusive to Skill Shops as well as existing short courses such as customer service, essential business courses such as food hygiene, and longer courses in retail management to help retailers develop their businesses.”