Retailers across Hampshire are opting to take part in the County Council’s support package to help them survive and thrive in the recession.

 

The retail sector has been particularly hard hit by the recession with footfalls and profits down. Shop vacancy rates remain high and other than the Christmas boost there is no firm indication that consumer spending is increasing.

 

With internet shopping on the increase work is underway to help improve the online presence of Hampshire’s retailers. A new website www.shopinhampshire.co.uk has been set up giving independent retailers in Hampshire an online presence - over 8,000 shops are now listed. Retailers from Test Valley, Havant, Fareham, Gosport, and the New Forest – 98 shops in all– have also benefited from IT training workshops aimed at helping them develop e-commerce and improve productivity. Further training sessions are planned for 2010 in East Hants, Basingstoke, Eastleigh and Winchester.

 

To entice more visitors to the town centres the County Council has been working with town centre managers to encourage additional events such as late night shopping and food festivals. Events in Eastleigh, Fleet, Romsey, Fareham, Basingstoke, Stockbridge, New Milton and Lymington have been supported so far – these include local produce festivals, a Halloween Festival and a Christmas Xtravaganza. To help improve the look of the high street and town centres small grants are being offered for window dressing empty shop units or to display community artwork. To date one application has been received from Aldershot.

 

For those retail staff who have been casualties of the recession, a series of IT training workshops have been set up to provide new skills for redundant shop workers, helping to improve their employability in a range of sectors. To date 59 people have attended sessions in Basingstoke and Alton. In the New Year courses will be held in Eastleigh and a further session will be run in Alton as the previous ones were oversubscribed.

 

The retail support package is one of four initiatives the County Council has introduced to help local businesses to assist workers and help independent businesses develop new opportunities to prosper in the economic downturn. The projects are funded with £425,000 from the Local Authority Business Growth Incentive (LABGI). They were created following the work of the Senate to identify action that could be taken by local authorities to help businesses in the economic downturn.

 

The other measures the County Council has put in place include Smarter Working Centres offering 'drop-in' low-cost work space, meeting and training rooms. There are also grants available to enable the voluntary and community sector to offer work experience and volunteering places helping people to gain new skills and grants to encourage businesses to take on apprentices.

 

Hampshire County Council Executive Member for Economic Development, Councillor Jonathan Glen, said, “The retail sector has been particularly badly hit by the recession. It is important that we support Hampshire’s independent retailers through this difficult time. The aim of our support package is to help retailers by providing them with the skills and means to improve their online presence and also to increase footfall by encouraging more people to visit their town centre.

 

“Addressing unemployment is also a priority and by holding IT training sessions in Partnership with Job Centre Plus we hope to open the door to new opportunities for shop workers who have been made redundant.”

 

Retailers wishing to find out more can contact the County Council’s Economic Development office by e-mail: economic.development@hants.gov.uk or telephone 01962 846381.

 

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