The shop that helps the shops
WHAT’S the next big thing due in Brent? Wembley City, the Stadium shopping development, of course - and thanks to a retail skills shop run jointly by Brent Council and a local FE college right on the doorstep, hundreds of trained people will be all set to take up the jobs on offer.
Wembley Skills Shop, located on the ground floor of Forum House, Lakeside Way (corner of Wembley Park Drive), has already been operating for a year as part of the Wembley Works one-stop shop project.
Job hunters can find jobs advice and placements through Brentin2Work and get retail training on the premises from the College of North West London – through classroom work and a virtual shop where students can practise their skills by ‘buying’ goods on display with a credit card.
Now the Wembley Skills Shop has been officially launched with the help of John Browning - membership and operations manager of the National Skills Academy for Retail – who told guests at the shop on Tuesday November 3: “This is a fabulous facility.Today Wembley, tomorrow the world!”
He explained that retail was the largest private industry sectior in the country, and despite the loss of high street names like Woolworth’s, was growing rapidly. It needed to attract 1.2 million staff over the next five years (including turnover), to fill the 200,000 extra jobs created.
Westfield in West London had created 5,000 new jobs, and the Stratford City development would create 8,500 jobs by September 2011 – making it the largest urban shopping centre in the world – so opportunities were there.
He added: “This is a sector that has suffered from low skills.18 per cent of employees have no qualifications, and 65 per cent of store managers do not have as much as a Level 3 qualification.
“In the past the mechanism for employers and staff to get invoved in training and skills had been too complicated, and that is why the one-stop shop was introduced.”
In April 2009, Wembley Skills Shop became one of the founder members of the NSA for Retail - a Government-backed network of training centres designed to support recession-hit retailers and prepare for the economic upturn.
As part of the national network, WSS will offer a full range of retail skills training on and off the premises, including the Diploma in Retail Skills, pre-employment training, apprenticeships, retail customer service programmes and retail work experience opportunities, plus business support for retailers.
The organisation has already given retail training to 400 unemployed people and worked with hundreds of retailers in and around Brent, ranging from small businesses to large chains in the Brent Cross shopping centre.
Manager Quintin Van Der Westhuizen, a former chef from South Africa who decided retail was more challenging than cooking food for airlines, recently re-equipped the virtual shop with new fashion and seasonal goods from different high street chains.
He said that the College was delivering workplace training at four Brent Cross shops where staff were taking the six-month Diploma course. A similar Diploma for those not in work would start at the Skills Shop soon.
PICTURE SHOWS:
Manager Quintin Van Der Westhuizen with students practising buying and selling
