SHARE Shop- A library of things
by Startacus Admin
Retail innovation seems to be all the rage at the moment. Enterprising folks are continually coming up with new and ingenious ways of improving our shopping experience, and creating technologies which make it easier than ever to find and pay for the things you like.
But the fundamentals of retail have remained unsurprisingly static - with the ‘money in exchange for goods’ not seeing much (if any) challenges over the past few years.
However we were recently delighted to learn of the opening of the UK’s first ever share shop, which injects retail with the mantra of the sharing economy, and replaces the standard cash - product relationship.
The aptly named SHARE opened for business in Spring 2015 in the town of Frome, Somerset and is (as far as we know) the first and only shop in the UK where sharing and borrowing, rather than buying and owning is the main activity. It is the UK's first 'library of things'.
Generous people donate high quality and desirable items to the shop which then loans them out for a small fee (between £1 and £4). Once the loan period is over, the item is returned to the shop and the process can start all over again.
But this shop seems to be about much more than just providing an inexpensive way for people to enjoy certain high quality items; equally important to its operation is promoting the idea of sharing, and fostering a sense of respect for the items on loan. To this end each item within the shop comes along with a personalised story of the owner who donated it, developing a sense of shared history and creating a more substantial connection with the items on display.
Edventure: Frome
T
he innovative and socially responsible shop came about when 8 unemployed young people were set a challenge by a local community enterprise called Edventure: Frome.
Edventure are folks after our own heart! They are a school for community enterprise that tries to foster a culture of enterprise that has positive and sustainable impacts on the community of their area. They take an innovative and community-centric approach to the work they do and see it as their goal to inspire, train and support diverse, unemployed young adults to create sustainable livelihoods locally, and to help build a more resilient, sustainable and fair community.
The hope is, that over time SHARE will continue to grow until eventually it becomes an independent and self sustaining permanent feature on the high street!
Well done to the guys at SHARE, hopefully we will see more of this kind of enterprise springing in more locations soon.
You might like to take a look at some of these recent posts as well!
Plastic Bank- Turning one man's trash into another man's treasure
Glove Love- Giving lost gloves a second chance
Subscribe to our newsletter
If you would like to receive our startup themed newsletter, full of the latest startup opportunities, events, news, stories, tips and advice, then sign up here.
"If you want to teach a nation to read: Just turn on the subtitles". This simple advice might just help make kids become proficient readers...
The innovative N. Ireland based startup that'll help you save both time and money when importing...
Urban Massage announces new on-demand wellness services and immediately raises over £2.5m in investment via equity crowdfunding platform, Seedrs.
The innovative app which is creating a better way for law firms to communicate with their clients...
Thinking of entering and expanding your business into the US market? We chat to Michael Burke, Partner in the Washington, DC office of Arnall Golden Gregory LLP.
The FinTech startup which is on a mission to fix car leasing and make the entire process easier than ever before.
Early-stage startup CityRadar is a SaaS platform that aims to tracks, analyses and increase consumer spend in the hospitality, tourism & travel business sectors. We found out more...
Dublin-based startup RewardsWide is a team performance and incentive platform for both families & workplaces. We found out more...
Continually wants you to never miss another lead from your website, replacing contact forms with simple messaging, making it easy for customers to get the information they need as quickly as possible.
Jess McGahan, Head of Brand at innovation specialists and early-stage investors, L Marks, chats to Startacus about working with some of the UK's best known brands on tailored corporate innovation programmes.
Published on: 26th June 2015
If you would like to enable commenting via your Startacus account, please enable Disqus functionality in your Account Settings.
- Trezeo looks to the crowd to target full UK launch 27th Jun 2018 Trezeo, a fintech startup focused on delivering financial stability to the self-employed, targets fully launching its income smoothing business account product in the UK.
- CliniShift awarded upSTART startup pitch title at Digital DNA 2018 21st Jun 2018 CliniShift wins the upSTART startup pitch title at Digital DNA for 2018, battling off against 24 other disruptive UK, NI and Irish startups.
- Launchpad, the award-winning incubator/accelerator building high tech startups in Cornwall 21st Jun 2018 Launchpad, an innovative, post-graduate incubation & acceleration programme developed by Falmouth University that aims to create new digital businesses to meet identified market demand in just 12 months.
- Lloyd's Lab begins global search for tech talent 21st Jun 2018 Over ten weeks, tech startups will be given the unique opportunity to work with Lloyd’s market experts to shape the next big innovation.
