Creatively reinvigorating downtown
I have always been a strong proponent of not reinventing the wheel when there are good ideas that can be replicated with minimal tweaking. One of those good ideas is something that is being used successfully by downtowns in cities as diverse as Pittsburg, Penn., a steel rustbelt city, to Birmingham, Ala., a city in which dozens of blocks downtown is being consumed by the University of Alabama-Birmingham for medical and educational facilities.
Both cities have successfully used something called “pop-up projects” to reinsert retail and other uses into vacant spaces downtown.
The way it works is pretty simple. Vacant storefronts are made available to retail businesses at no cost to them for limited amounts of time. The benefit is multifold – the businesses, many of whom are currently operating out of their home and selling only on eBay or Etsy, get publicity and wider exposure.
They discover the reaction to their goods or services in person and get immediate feedback in the way of sales.
The downtown benefits from more interest and vitality; or in the words of Pittsburg mayor Luke Ravenstahl, an injection of “life and energy.” Underused downtown spaces get added traffic and the interest created could lead to additional tenants.
There are some really creative ways the cities have used the pop-up concept. Pittsburgh has a fashion week, so one of their pop up events was a day of fashion that catered to retailers of men’s and women’s fashion and accessories. Pittsburgh also has fashion trucks, similar to food trucks but filled with vintage and locally-made fashions. These fashion trucks were included in the pop-up event. Pittsburgh also hosted a “Pop Up Patio” concept for one month and featured creation of a peaceful oasis amid downtown office buildings that allowed people to eat, read and enjoy the outdoors.
The Downtown Shreveport Development Corporation is looking at the pop-up concept that installs various selected businesses into retail spaces within an easily walkable section of downtown on a temporary basis.
The length of pop ups vary; in Birmingham, the pop-up projects last just one week; in Pittsburgh, the businesses are given an entire year. There are benefits and drawbacks to both the shorter and longer experiments. The hoped for upside is that businesses that were part of the pop up experiment do well enough to stay – or – that the interest created in the building spaces encourages other businesses to move in.
Several pop up businesses in both Birmingham and Pittsburg have done well enough to open permanent storefronts in their respective downtown.
We are working on the details of a pop-up project (or a series of projects) in downtown Shreveport and hope to engage building owners and managers to participate. Once those locations are secured, we’ll determine the length and dates of the projects and put out information requesting proposals from potential pop up businesses.
We’re excited about the many opportunities the projects will create for downtown employees and residents, underutilized buildings, small home-based businesses and creative partnerships.
Keep up with our pop-up progress at www.downtownshreveport.com or drop us a line at liz@downtownshreveport.com.
We’d love to hear your thoughts and whether your business might be interested in participating.
Liz Swaine is the executive director of the Downtown Development Authority. She can be reached at liz@downtownshreveport.com.
