Hi, my name is Wendy:)

I'm the owner of Shops to Share and have created this website to help the struggling retail industry worldwide.

Sharing retail space has proved to be a sustainable and profitable business model for major retail chains for years now, and we believe this concept will benefit small retailers as well.

Everyone's aware of the dire straits of retail in the world but no one's offering any practical solutions for the people involved and shops are closing down everywhere at an unprecedented rate.

Shops to Share is an advertising and networking site for anyone who wants to share retail space, which includes bricks and mortar shops as well as online stores. It provides an online platform for retailers of all kinds to easily find each other. The site enables store owners to advertise their available spaces, location and contact details and also space seekers to advertise their products or service and their interest in sharing shop space.The site is formed around the idea that shop sharing can come in many different shapes and sizes. It really depends on the people and products involved.

See below for some shop sharing examples. 

In these tough economic times small retail will have to evolve in order to maintain or increase their share of the market.This website takes the guess work and frustration out of trying to find a suitable shop sharer and if the contact is successful, can bring immediate financial relief.

So, we want to encourage every retailer to rethink the way the world is doing retail and embrace new possibilities to build a more interdependent and sustainable business model for themselves. We believe this concept will boost small business everywhere and help our small to medium retail community to not only survive but grow.

We will be launching Shops to Share internationally as soon as possible. We have just launched it in Australia and are excited that it has been well received. We will launch in the United States and Canada next and soon after that the UK, Europe, Asia, New Zealand and South Africa. Shops to Share needs to be marketed and advertised in each country and this is where we need your help. We hope to raise enough money to cover the costs of marketing, advertising and promotional work to create awareness. The more people who know about (and talk about) the website and the possibilities it presents, and use it, the quicker it will gain momentum and serve it's purpose and the benefits will be felt by small businesses, their families and their communities.

We are excited to offer advertising to all investors or their nominated businesses, in a country of their choice, for a period of time based on the level of contribution.

This is an international appeal for an international problem, so please join us and become part of the solution.

Here are some shop sharing examples:

Shop owners may have many different types of space available in their store. These could be anything from a back room, courtyard or window space, to floor, wall and counter top space and many more. Commercial kitchens are not used 24 hours a day, but perhaps they could be if different businesses wanted to use the facility in shifts. These are just a few examples but the opportunities are endless.

With a bit of imagination shop owners can turn their spaces into vibrant multifaceted stores where customers have a greater range of goods and services available to them all under one roof. For example, a women's clothing store that also offers beautiful bath products, jewellery, and a cafe in the back courtyard, where you can pick up a bunch of fresh flowers on your way out. That's 5 different business all operating out of one store, all sharing the costs and overheads.

Another example could be a garden nursery that offers a lawn mower repair and secondhand sales shed in one corner, a locally grown organic fruit and veggie stall in another and a cafe that is also a display centre for outdoor furniture and home wares.

 There are also many home businesses producing or importing gorgeous products that are never seen in the stores because they are only selling online or at the markets. The reason for this is often the huge cost and risk of owning their own store.These people will now have the opportunity to find and rent a small space in an existing store and gain the exposure for their products or service that they would otherwise never have had.

The website also makes provision for people to sell their products on someone else's website until they have their own.