This May shop owners and businesses in Morecambe are being invited to dress their shop fronts to celebrate all things Eric Morecambe.
From black rimmed glasses to those star-studded show stoppers, Lancaster City Council and its partners would like you to dress to impress for Eric and you may win an award!
With high streets under pressure and mentors like Mary Portas telling retailers that they need to up their game it is more important than ever to stand out from the crowd and meet the expectations of modern visitors and shoppers.
To help businesses achieve this wow factor, visual display expert Helen Goodwin of Made You Look! will be on hand in the Arndale Centre on Friday May 3 to help inspire and provide advice on how to create window displays that will turn heads and attract old and new customers alike.
Helen has worked with both small independent retailers as well as a number of multi-national retailers across the country including House of Fraser, Selfridges and Monsoon.
As an industry expert Helen knows the secrets behind creating cost effective displays to produce one of the cheapest forms of advertising available to businesses.
Putting all this good advice to the test, businesses within Morecambe town centre are invited to enter a competition to find the best Eric-themed displays. Entrants from the following categories are encouraged:
The entrants will be judged by a small panel drawn from the local community.
Andrew Dobson, Head of Regeneration and Planning for Lancaster City Council, said: "It is hoped that the town centre will be transformed over the two-week long competition to honour what would have been Eric Morecambe’s 87th birthday. During this time local residents and shoppers are encouraged to turn out in force to view the displays and support local traders."
The training and competition are being provided as part of the wider Morecambe Townscape Heritage Initiative 2 (THI) - A View for Eric project which is funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Lancaster City Council and seeks to invest and regenerate historic town centres.
Businesses wanting to register for the competition should do so before noon on Friday May 8 by visiting the View for Eric section or calling 01524 582375 to complete a short application form.
Application forms will also be available at Morecambe Town Hall, Morecambe Library and the Morecambe Visitor office from Wednesday April 24. Entrants will receive a competition pack including a window sticker, pair of ‘Eric’ style glasses and most importantly some window dressing tips.
Displays entering the competition must be in place by noon Friday May 10 and remain for a period of two weeks during which time the efforts will be judged by the panel. The winners will then be published in The Visitor.
Helen from Made You Look! will be in the former Superdrug unit in the Arndale between 8.30am and 4pm on Friday May 3 to showcase how to create some displays, provide two, hour-long training presentations – at 10.30am and repeated at 2pm – and generally provide lots of useful tips.
To book a place at one of these presentations or for a short one-to-one appointment with Helen please email viewforeric@lancaster.gov.uk or call 01524 582375 in advance.
