• Survey of Rural Challenges
  • Small Town Speaker Becky McCray
  • Shop Local video
  • SaveYour.Town

Small Biz Survival

The small town and rural business resource

A row of small town shops
  • Front Page
  • Latest stories
  • About
  • Guided Tour
  • Subscribe
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
  • RSS

Shipping container businesses downtown: don’t make this big mistake

By Becky McCray

Lots of big cities have started shipping container business villages. I love the idea. But many of them are making a huge mistake that I don’t want to see small towns copy.

The Big Mistake: Ignoring the street

My friend Carlos Moreno of Tulsa, Oklahoma, pointed this out. Here’s a picture of the Boxyard in Tulsa, taken from the street corner:

Down the street to the left, the Boxyard has an open plaza space. This street to the right gets the blank wall, cutting it off from people.

Notice how they’ve put the blank wall to the street! They did it so they could create a central courtyard that faces the other street.

A huge bonus of shipping container businesses is that you can be flexible in the layout. That makes it easy to leave room for courtyards and plazas. Just don’t ignore the street when you do!

It’s not just in Tulsa. I’ve seen the same layout at the Container Park in Las Vegas, where the whole thing is fenced off to create a self-contained village and courtyard with blank walls facing all the surrounding streets. It’s good that the interior space is welcoming, but it shuts off the activity from the sidewalks.

A courtyard is nice, but you know what’s nicer? Not blanking out an entire section of your downtown. Most small towns don’t have a lot of street frontage to waste this way!

The Better Solution: Line up the containers just like regular buildings

If you decide to use shipping containers, storage sheds or other alternatives to fill in an empty stretch of your downtown, line them up right on the sidewalk like regular downtown buildings. Here’s an example seen in Cleveland, Ohio:

Standing in for missing storefront buildings, these shipping container businesses in Cleveland, Ohio, line up right along the sidewalk. Photo via Historic Warehouse District Development Corporation

Bonus: Build your courtyard around back 

You can still build a courtyard or plaza space behind your containers or sheds. Design it so there are hallways or walkways that lead from the street side to the new plaza behind. You can even sneak in another row of containers around the plaza for even more businesses, if you have demand for it. Or maybe use some space for parking if you have to.

As a bonus, this adds life and activity to your alley side, which is the next frontier for expanding your downtown.

The Tulsa Boxyard layout already includes some passageways that allow people in from the street that got the blank-wall treatment. They could make a few simple changes to address the street with street-side entrances and windows.

To help people move from the streetside to the inner courtyard, build in some passageways between containers.

New to SmallBizSurvival.com? Take the Guided Tour. Like what you see? Get our updates.

 

  • About the Author
  • Latest Posts

About Becky McCray

Becky started Small Biz Survival in 2006 to share rural business and community building stories and ideas with other small town business people. She and her husband have a small cattle ranch and are lifelong entrepreneurs. Becky is an international speaker on small business and rural topics.
  • Check your small business website for outdated pandemic changes, missing info - January 31, 2023
  • Rural Tourism Trend: electric vehicle chargers can drive visitors - January 15, 2023
  • 2023 trends for rural and small town businesses - December 26, 2022
  • Local reviews on Google Maps drive enduring value - December 17, 2022
  • Extra agritourism revenue from camping, cabins and RVs with HipCamp - December 12, 2022
  • Harvest Hosts attract vanlifers and RV tourists, Boondockers Welcome - December 2, 2022
  • Holiday 2022 marketing: Tell your founding story - December 1, 2022
  • Holiday 2022 Marketing: Tell your customers’ stories - November 30, 2022
  • Holiday 2022 Marketing: Introduce your people - November 29, 2022
  • Holiday 2022 Marketing: Share your holiday traditions - November 28, 2022

September 24, 2018 Filed Under: economic development, entrepreneurship, mistakes, rural

Wondering what is and is not allowed in the comments?
Or how to get a nifty photo beside your name?
Check our commenting policy.
Use your real name, not a business name.


Don't see the comment form?
Comments are automatically closed on older posts, but you can send me your comment via this contact form and I'll add it manually for you. Thanks!

Howdy!

Glad you dropped in to the rural and small town business blog, established in 2006.

We want you to feel at home, so please take our guided tour.

Meet our authors on the About page.

Have something to say? You can give us a holler on the contact form.

If you would like permission to re-use an article you've read here, please make a Reprint Request.

Want to search our past articles? Catch up with the latest stories? Browse through the categories? All the good stuff is on the Front Page.

Shop Local

Buy local buttonReady to set up a shop local campaign in your small town? You'll need a guide who understands how we're different and what really works: Shop Local Campaigns for Small Towns.

Best of Small Biz Survival

What is holding us back? Why does every project take so long in small towns?

How any business can be part of downtown events by going mobile

Concert-goers talking and enjoying the evening in downtown Webster City, Iowa.

Why do people say there’s nothing to do here then not come to our concerts?

Retailers: Fill all empty space, floor to ceiling

More of the best of Small Biz Survival

Copyright © 2023 Becky McCray
Front Page · Log in