The ARA’s Building Business Skills for Retailers workshop series was to wind up in August, however due to the program’s success, the Victorian State Government and the City of Moonee Valley have asked the ARA to extend the program into another municipality in Melbourne’s inner west.
After running the series of workshops across ten areas in both city and regional areas across Victoria, the Government and the City of Moonee Valley are now funding the ARA to conduct the workshop series in the City of Moonee Valley.
The ARA Building Business Skills for Retailers program will also offer free mentoring for retailers. This will enable ARA specialist trainers/consultants to take the workshop’s content into retail businesses and facilitate business improvement strategies with the retailer.
The extra funding comes after largely positive feedback from over 250 retailers who have attended the workshop to date. Most participants have come away from the series indicating that they have found the interactive component of the course useful and the content of the course practical to sparking off fresh ideas.
The workshop series has received its funding under the State Government’s Streetlife initiative, which aims to reinvigorate commercial areas, aid businesses in prospering, create job opportunities and boost the Victorian economy.
The program has also attracted the interest of a number of major shopping centres and there are plans to roll the initiative out nationally. Westfield Shopping Centres will be offering the program to retailers in its centres as part of a national ARA and Westfield Retail Education initiative. The ARA Retailer will profile this exciting program with Westfield in its next edition.
For more information, please contact Garry Terrill at the ARA on 03 9321 5000.
