The goal of the Pop-Up Shop programme is to give all students the chance to run a shop in the city centre for a day. It doesn’t matter what course you’re studying, or what stage of study you’re at, the programme is open to everyone and is a fun way to get new experiences and make new friends.
Teams of 5 - 7 students compete for the chance to run a pop-up shop in the city centre for a day. Four teams will be chosen by an expert panel and will be supported by a mentor to create a business plan and marketing campaign for their day in the shop.
You can either form your own team, or we’ll place you into a team, to make sure that you’re working with people with complementary skills – so whether you’re a marketing expert, a business guru, a finance ninja or you just want to give it a shot and see what it’s like, you can have a go!
How it works
First, you’ll let us know that you’re interested in taking part in the programme. You don’t need to be in a team, or have finalised your team yet, to do this. After that, we meet with everyone to find out a bit more about their ideas and place them into a team if needed. You then have time to flesh out your proposal and put together a more detailed plan.
When your plan has been submitted, the whole team meets with an expert panel to talk them through it. The panel picks the four best plans and allocates a mentor to each successful team. Each team gets to run the pop-up shop for a day and is given a £500 loan to buy stock, create a marketing campaign and plan a strategy in advance of the allocated trading day.
Mentors support teams while they plan their day in the shop and afterwards help them reflect on how it went and what they learned.
Timescales
The programme takes place in stages:
Stage 1: Preparation and planning
- Applications open at midday on 23 February 2026. Application forms must be submitted by midday on Friday 13 March 2026
- Teams meet with Enterprise Bath
- Full applications submitted and then discussed with our expert panel on 29 April 2026
- Successful teams, following a pitch presentation to an expert panel, are chosen by the panel in late April
- Teams work with a mentor throughout May to get ready to open their pop-up shop
Stage 2: Running the shop
Each team runs the pop-up shop for a day in the first week of June.
Stage 3: Reflection and Learning
Teams reflect on their learning through Reflection and Learning Workshops, and we crunch the numbers to see who earned the most profit. The winning team is the one who makes the most profit, and their reward is to keep the profits for themselves.
By applying to the programme, you commit to all three stages; you must be available to take part in the reflection and learning workshops if you have agreed to open a pop-up shop for a day.
Why you should take part
The competition is open to all students, from any course. We strongly encourage students who are not focused on business or marketing in their core studies to get involved; the competition is designed to be a learning experience and give you fantastic skills that you can add to your CV and LinkedIn profile when the competition has ended.
It's a unique chance to gain real-world business experience in a supportive, encouraging environment so don’t worry if you’ve never done anything like it before. We want people who are enthusiastic, determined and motivated no matter their background or previous experience.
When all trading has finished, everyone who took part will have access to workshops with the Careers department to help you analyse your decisions and assess the effectiveness of your strategy. You’ll also learn how to craft your experience for maximum effect on your CV, job applications and your LinkedIn profile.
Throughout the competition, you’ll build key transversal skills such as collaboration, communication, and prioritisation as well as crucial technical skills in areas such as marketing, project management and business planning.
Team Lemme - 2025 winners
Read Team Lemme's blog post about their experience taking part in the Pop-Up Shop Programme.
It was an intense, chaotic, and incredibly rewarding day. We walked away with the awards for Best Profit and Best Marketing, but the real prize was the crash course in running a business. Oliver Ip, Procurement Lead
Frequently asked questions
Can I talk to someone about my idea before doing anything?
Yes, absolutely. We are very happy for you to contact us at any time for an informal chat to find out more or run through an idea with us. Email the Enterprise team at enterprise@bath.ac.uk.
Do I need to be doing a business, marketing, or finance course to take part?
No! The competition is open to everyone, regardless of what they’re studying. You need to be enthusiastic, energetic and willing to take part.
Do I need to form a team before I submit my form?
No! You can apply as an individual, or on behalf of a team, even if you haven’t yet finalised all the members of your team yet.
Do I need to have a detailed plan in place before I express my interest?
No! If you have the outline of an idea, that’s fine. It's also no problem if you want to offer your skills and energy to another team and don’t have a plan at all at this stage.
How many people can be in a team?
Teams must be formed of five to seven people. We cannot take forward teams who have fewer than five members, or more than seven members.
What’s the prize?
The winning team is the one who makes the most profit. Their prize is to keep the profit they made. We will also award prizes for the Best Marketing Campaign and the Most Sustainable Initiative.
What can I sell in the shop?
That’s up to you. You could sell almost anything from art to zebra-striped kitchenware! What do you think will sell best in this shop? Do you already have a business selling products? We have some ideas for you using products made by our students and graduates. Come and talk us through your ideas and we can guide you as to which is likely to work best.
Remember that we’re giving you a loan, so anything you buy belongs to the University unless you sell it in the shop on the trading day.
How much time will we have in the shop?
Each team will receive the keys to the shop at midnight on their allocated trading day. They will have until the shop opens to get everything set up and will keep the keys until 23:59; 24 hours in total.
How will you decide which four plans are the best?
The panel will decide based on the application form and the team pitches. The panel will consider the team as a whole, and how well they are working on their application, as well as their idea for the shop. This is about learning from the process as well as trying to run a business and make a profit.