Courses that the shop’s staff have benefited from include Space Planning, Window Display, Visual Merchandising, Customer Service and Human Resource Management.

Tourism Futures is a partnership which is supported by City College, Brighton & Hove City Council and many other organisations within the city. The purpose of the project is to provide training to the retail and tourism sectors in Brighton & Hove.

Liz Sampson, Assistant Manager, attended the Window Display course and is currently studying for a NVQ Level 2 qualification in Retail: “The course was brilliant because I learnt a lot about how to position things in a customer-friendly way which I could put into practice in the shop. The NVQ has given me a lot of good general knowledge about how things work in retail”.

Vanessa Lewis, co-owner of the shop, adds: “The lay-out of a children’s bookshop is crucial and this training has really helped Liz to build up her confidence and skills. She hasn’t got a retail background but her knowledge is a lot wider now. We’ve all made the most of the training opportunities that we’ve been offered and we’re enjoying a really good relationship with the College.”