Online giant eBay is to open its first “concept store”, offering small businesses the chance to sell and “showcase” their products.
The pop-up store will be based in Wolverhampton for a month, with eBay saying it was aiming to help “reinvent” traditional high street retailing.
Around 40 small companies will be involved in what is being described as a retail experiment.
The move is part of a “retail revival” pilot scheme designed to show how online and physical retail can thrive together.
Rob Hattrell, vice president of eBay in the UK, said: “The small retailers taking part in Wolverhampton’s retail revival have already shown that physical and online retail can survive, and thrive, together.
“They have achieved more than £2 million in sales as of March and many have employed more staff as a direct result of the partnership.
“This pop-up store aims to take that growth, and the value of this programme, to the next level.
“It will explore how stores of the future could combine technology with that vital human connection to powerful effect, whatever the size of the business.”
