Twenty young entrepreneurs will be setting out their stall at Whitehaven’s youth market on Saturday.
Copeland Council’s second Young Entrepreneurs Market will be held on King Street and follows the success of the launch market last month.
The market – open between 10am and 3pm – will see the number of young stallholders almost double from the first instalment, and the introduction of a local storyteller Debbie Haine at the Duke Street end of King Street, with four talented young singers performing in the Market Place at the other end.
Young entrepreneurs aged 25 and under are eligible for free pitches, and stallholders will be selling everything from homemade candles, crafts and cakes to clothing, gifts and jewellery.
There will also be an artisan breadmaker, aged only 15.
Jenny Brumby, Copeland Council’s business liaison officer, said: “The first market was a real success, and the feedback we had from stallholders, visitors and local businesses was extremely positive.
“The youth market is win-win. It offers young people a platform to sell their wares and to help nurture them into our businesspeople of the future, and almost all of the stallholders who joined us at the first market are returning for the second.
“The market also gives our existing businesses the boost of increased footfall and custom in the town centre, and it gives residents and visitors the chance to browse and shop at a local market and support our next generation of traders.
“We are at maximum occupancy of 20 stallholders for this next market, and are looking at how we can expand that number in the future to accommodate the high demand for stalls.”
Copeland Council carried out a public survey into its future market offering last year and attracted over 600 responses.
The Young Entrepreneurs Market is first of many new ideas to emerge from the public consultation.
For more information and to register an interest in future markets, email jenny.brumby@copeland.gov.uk
