A group of business and retail students at West Suffolk College are staging a takeover of six charity shops in Bury St Edmunds with the aim of bringing in more cash.

Using their business skills, they will be working with EACH, Suffolk AgeUK, St Nicholas Hospice Care and Barnardo’s in St Johns Street as well as Cancer Research UK and The Salvation Army on the Cornhill from February 26 to March 2.

The Level 3 students have already visited the shops and have been working on the project, thinking about how they can improve the windows and the shop floor to boost the revenue and the footfall.

There will also be an element of competition with the six groups all vying to see who can do the best job and raise the most.

“This project will give the students the unique opportunity to utilise their business skills, whilst experiencing the daily challenges faced by retailers,” said Nina Hart, the college’s business and retail course director.

“This is an exciting chance to combine their marketing, project management and visual merchandising skills in a live project with the aim of increasing the turn over for these great charities.”