For an early-stage business, setting up a new retail space can be a significant challenge.
How much square footage is necessary? What are the best hours? And how am I going to afford the rent while I’m still working on making sales?
To help aspiring innovators answer these questions and remove some of the barriers to retail entrepreneurship, the VCU da Vinci Center for Innovation is launching Shift Retail Lab. The retail space is new 2,700-square-foot student storefront on Broad Street.
“It’s about creating access,” said da Vinci Center Executive Director Garret Westlake, who called the storefront the first of its kind in the country.
While some entrepreneurs are able to give their venture a boost by raising money from family and friends, that’s often not an option for VCU students, he said. A free space where students can test out their retail approach, without the burden of up-front costs, gives more potential business owners the step up they need to launch something new.
“To me, the heart of the retail space is about creating access and also breaking down the barrier between the Richmond community and the university,” he said.
Shift will be a place where community members can interact with some of the innovation coming out of VCU, Westlake said. In fact, the student storefront is part of an overall initiative by VCU to bridge that gap between its students and the community.
VCU introduced the concept of a student storefront earlier this year, when it announced the launch of a new learning model called the VCU Entrepreneurship Academy.
The academy is supported by a $50,000 grant from the Association of Public & Land-grant Universities’ Coalition of Urban Serving Universities. It was designed to give 150 low-income and first-generation college students the opportunity to learn together with 50 community members from Richmond’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.
To construct and brand the space, VCU received support from the Hourigan Group and the VCU Brandcenter. The academy is the result of a collaboration between the VCU da Vinci Center, VCU REAL, Activation Capital and the Jackson Ward Collective.
With construction nearly complete, VCU plans to take ownership of the space in June and will conduct soft launch activities like pop-up shops during the summer. A grand opening is planned for fall 2021.
Once the space is up and running, Westlake said community members can expect student products available for sale, as well as pop-up events promoting students, alumni and community member businesses and products.
“We think that there will always be this really eclectic mix of use in the space but really consistent heavy use of the space as well,” he said.