One pop-up is just a pop-up, but a group of pop-ups is a market. Photos by Forest County Business Alliance, Austin Moore, CC by Jeffrey Grandy.
Basics
What is a pop-up? I explain more here.
Tip #1: Group your pop-ups
When you’re planning to add pop-up businesses or shed businesses to your small or rural community, concentrate them in one area.
Better to have four sheds or pop up businesses together on a single lot, than fourteen vendors spread out all over.
Your goal is to make it feel like a concentrated burst of new activity. If your pop ups are too spread out, people will never notice them. Remember that nothing draws a crowd like a crowd, and put your vendors close together.
Tionesta Pennsylvania clustered 10 sheds into one market village along contiguous empty lots.
Wolfforth Texas clustered a set of sheds to use as a farmers market.
Hyannis Massachusetts spread their sheds within the port area which is popular with tourists. Their artist shanties don’t stand shoulder to shoulder, but they are all within a very small area.
Get more ideas to turn your empty lots into bustling commercial spaces with SaveYour.Town’s video Empty Lot Economic Development.
Tip #2: Pop-up during the holidays
Homewood, Illinois, made their downtown feel more full with pop-ups during the holidays.
Tip #3: Pop-up inside other businesses
Here’s how to get merchants to host pop-ups inside their businesses.
Tip #4: Start small on an empty lot
Deb Brown walks you through how a town added pop-ups to an empty lot.
Tip #5: Start in the empty buildings
Here are some ways to convince building owners to get on board with pop-ups.
Get more guidance in the Pop-ups Toolkit
Pop-Up Fair Toolkit from SaveYour.Town
- About the Author
- Latest by this Author
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.
