Pop Up Shop

Colwyn Bay is a town of independent traders offering all sorts of goods and services. We believe that’s what makes our town so unique. However, like a lot of towns we have some empty shops that we’d like to see filled. We also realise that we need to create a strong reason for people to come and shop in the town. Today’s shoppers are more selective and more sophisticated than they used to be. They demand variety and excitement. They want to see a wide range of shops, specialised coffee bars and cafes. Shopping is becoming an experience, not just a necessity.

This is what the Pop-Up Shop project is all about. It’s been created to help both nurture fledging, independent businesses, help fill empty shops in the town centre and create a space that’s exciting and different. And it’s working.

Joining forces with Communities First, Colwyn Bay Townscape Heritage Initiative now have three shops that have been filled by local start-up businesses. From photography services to rare wool spinners and unique hand crafted gifts. Each business that’s come through the Pop-Up Shop has learnt a lot about retail and how to run a business.

The Pop-Up Shop project has also supported a wide range of events and initiatives in the town including the Buskival Festival where our shop was used as a recording studio for local talented singers and performers. We’ve also ran a Pop-Up Shop Play event partnered by Communities First where we set up a free interactive play space during the summer holidays and invited parents to bring their children and discover different ways of playing and creating.

We’ve worked with lots of other organisations too, including Coleg Llandrillo, Colwyn Bay Football Club and Colwyn Chamber of Trade, CAIS plus many others. We believe it’s this sense of unity and collaboration that is making the Pop-Up Shop such as success. Bringing together the business community with the residential community helps make the community at large stronger and provide a shared vision. In fact when Colwyn Bay won Coastal High Street of the Year in 2015 the judges cited the work by Colwyn Bay Town Heritage Initiative as being a key reason for presenting the town with the award. Are we proud of that fact? Yes we are.

We also work closely with the Bay Life team to build on their firm foundations of creating regeneration and identity. Millions of pounds of investment have been poured into Colwyn Bay to help make it a place where people want to live, work and visit. We’ve come an awful long way towards that goal and we realise we’ve still got some way to go yet but we’re getting there.