Students launch Retro Shack on Wellington high street

After two years of hard work, the youngsters from Wrekin College have officially opened their Retro Shack, in Wellington.

Crowds gathered in the street to support the students, aged between 13 and 17, as they cut the ribbon to declare the shop open.

The team picked up £20,000 to launch the scheme after winning Telford & Wrekin Council’s young high street challenge competition.

Their idea to ditch screens and technology to raid the spoils of the past for an experiential shopping outlet in Wellington won over the judges.

They have spent months negotiating leases, hiring staff, acquiring a supply chain of stock, devising marketing plans and organising a refit of the new premises in Duke Street.

Managing director of the Retro Shack, Joe Manton, 15, said the majority of pupils working on the project studied business studies and it allowed them to apply what they learned in the classroom to real life.

Other departments at the school, including design and technology, had also stepped in to help make the shop a reality, he said in a speech to celebrate the opening.

Councillor Lee Carter, Telford & Wrekin Council's cabinet member for finance, commercial services and the borough economy, praised the school for a “fantastic achievement” which was part of a massive programme of investment carried out across the borough to support high streets and engage young people to create high streets of the future.

Innovative

He said: “I have been involved in a business and I know how much planning and heartache it takes to get it to this stage and I want to congratulate Wrekin College on what is a fantastic achievement.

"We are committed to supporting businesses on the high street and looking at innovative ways in which we can bring something new to our high streets to secure a strong future for traders across the borough."

Wrekin College headmaster Tim Firth said he was immensely proud of the team and most pleased with the fact that the Retro Shack had been “pupil-driven”.

“At Wrekin we are serious about producing competent and good candidates for the workforce," he added.

"This day is proof that Wrekin pupils have a can-do attitude and an entrepreneurial spirit. Here they are opening stores in their community. It is really important when you are plugged into a community you try and plug in as far as you can get and Wrekin working with Wellington is what business is surely all about.”

Wrekin College invested £1 million in creating the business school to help blend the corporate world and the classroom and it has hosted dozens of industry leaders, high-profile business events and helped support numerous young entrepreneurs since it opened in 2017.

The young high street challenge was run as part of Telford & Wrekin Council’s Pride in Our Community Fund which identified six Telford borough town high streets that need rejuvenating including Wellington.

The shop is open on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, from 10am-5pm.