The West Virginia University School of Art and Design will celebrate the official grand opening of The Retail Lab on Friday, September 12, at 6 p.m. during Arts Walk.
The Retail Lab, located at 201 High Street in Morgantown, is a student-run storefront that curates and sells vintage, secondhand and repurposed fashion items and original work from artists and designers.
The space was made possible by a collaboration between the Fashion Design and Merchandising program, which is part of the WVU School of Art and Design in the College of Creative Arts and Media (CCAM), and Main Street Morgantown with funding from The Benedum Foundation.
Elizabeth Shorrock, a teaching assistant professor of FDM, helped launch The Retail Lab, oversees the store, and teaches a course in which students learn how to manage day-to-day operations, curation, store layout, customer service and marketing.
Shorrock also hopes to provide community sewing classes and was recently able to utilize grant funds and a generous donor contribution to secure industrial sewing machines for a sewing studio at the store.
“This space has been a long time coming, and I’m thrilled to have everything in place as our students begin classes this year,” Shorrock said. “Our partnership with Main Street Morgantown has been invaluable, and we’re grateful to be part of the small business community downtown. We have big ideas and high hopes for The Retail Lab.”
Daphne Carroll, a 2024 graduate of the FDM program, is the manager at The Retail Lab, which celebrated a ribbon cutting and soft opening on June 3. Regular store hours are Thursday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., but the storefront will remain open through the duration of Arts Walk on September 12.
Main Street Morgantown’s Artisan Entrepreneurship Program is funding the store’s first year. The program aims to help The Retail Lab become a self-sustaining enterprise. The shop will reinvest all proceeds in student and community programs, nurturing future artists and designers and buoying local entrepreneurs already working in those fields.
For more information on the FDM program, visit artanddesign.wvu.edu. To learn more about The Retail Lab, follow the store on Instagram @wvuretaillab.