Local businesses receive Retail Therapy makeover
Retailers in Athlone and Mullingar have been working with advisors to RTÉ's Retail Therapy programme in recent weeks. Based on an initiative by Westmeath County Enterprise Board, James Burke and Lara Snider, who work with the RTÉ programme, will offer further training to local retailers in the coming weeks The support is being provided by the team attached to the programme but local retailers will not be part of the tv series. Westmeath County Enterprise Board said: "These are tough times for retailers and we can all see the positive initiatives that local retailers are putting in place to entice us to do more shopping. The retail sector and the jobs it creates are one of the most important business sectors in Westmeath and in response to this, Westmeath County Enterprise Board is working with RTE 'Retail Therapy' advisors James Burke and Lara Snider." In May this year, twelve independent shop owners from Athlone and Mullingar participated in training conducted by James Burke and all agreed that attending the three day course made a difference to their business and gave them renewed energy, ideas and practical support to help their business. Westmeath County Enterprise Board is now offering further support to retailers by delivering two further training programmes, starting in the coming weeks. The first course is a one-day Window Dressing, Display & Merchandising which will be again delivered by James Burke but this time he will be joined by dynamic design consultant, Lara Snider. Lara has worked in visual merchandising, display and store design for some of the top stores across the world including Athropologie, Hobbs, Ralph Lauren and Selfridges. An expert in her chosen area, Lara will impart her years of knowledge and experience to show retailers how best to attract customers to their business. Participants will be shown a dazzling display of current thinking from Lara's library of store designs and ideas sourced from around the world. This workshop is going to be all about ingenuity and creative design but you don't need to be a natural artist to participate - just an independent retailer who wants to improve their shop design and display. One lucky retailer on the day will have their display made over by the design team. The course will take place in the training rooms of Westmeath County Enterprise Board on Church Avenue, Mullingar on Thursday, August 25, commencing at 9.30am The second programme WCEB will be delivering will focus on Customer Service and this training course will take place in late September. This one-day course will work with local retailers advising them on improving their customer service initiatives which will in turn improve their overall performance. Participants will learn from some of the best case studies of customer service in the world and will work on developing their own brand of customer service. Full details of both courses are available from Westmeath County Enterprise Board in Church Avenue, Mullingar. Contact info@westmeath-enterprise.ie or 044-9349222.