Memo #17: Using Pop-ups to Activate Main Street
By Pauline Larsen, Downtown Yonge BIA
Photo credit: behance.net
Pop-ups are a flexible, effective intervention to activate main streets struggling with COVID-19 vacancies
The global pandemic has highlighted the vulnerabilities of different economic sectors, as well as different types of businesses. One of the hardest hit is independent, street-front businesses. Often operating at the margin, so-called ‘mom and pop’ shops are not only the lifeblood of their neighbourhoods and main streets, but are also disproportionately affected by external shocks like sudden rent hikes or soaring property taxes.
In this challenging moment, there is an urgent need to achieve a few ends simultaneously on main streets: activating empty spaces, creating opportunities for tenants of different kinds, providing an enlivened street experience and helping landlords generate rental income. These outcomes are even more necessary as recovery timelines, the success of federal commercial rent initiatives and the extent of net business closures all remain unclear.
Pop-ups are a tactical urbanism tool that can effectively address the dual needs of community and economic development at the same time. Although traditionally thought of as a retail format, pop-ups are highly adaptable and limited only by the imagination.
At their simplest, pop-ups are uses that occupy empty spaces for a limited amount of time. What they achieve is an activation of an individual space, or a street full of spaces, that would otherwise be empty and static. And those activations can take a variety of different forms.
This Memo outlines some of the broad advantages and applications of pop-ups and takes a look at how they have been used to activate struggling main streets and neighbourhoods in different cities.
Photo source: thestorefront.com
So, what exactly is a pop-up and what does it achieve?
In 2018, Ryerson University developed and published an open-source textbook entitled Pop-up Retail Strategies in an Omni-Channel Context. Not only does it provide a comprehensive definition of pop-ups, the textbook also devotes a chapter to the role of pop-ups in community development, which is particularly relevant to the current challenges facing main streets during 2020.
Pop-up shops are temporary stores that “pop up” for a few days or months. They are a new form of retail operations that have gained popularity in the past decade. Retailers and brands of all sizes have implemented pop-up shops – from global and national retail chains, to small independent stores and even e-commerce pure players – that have positioned these initiatives as a marketing & communication tool, as incubators to test a market and/or new products, or as inventory liquidation venues. Pop-up shops have also been established as a solution for revitalizing communities where significant storefront vacancies exist.
Although traditionally seen as largely a retail format, pop-up uses can be very diverse, as can be seen by the breadth and depth of examples across North America. They can take art installations, or social programming, or incubators, or services, and use them to activate main streets and neighbourhoods. They can also build clusters of start-up or independent retailers as part of a comparative economic strategy that generates heightened demand in a specific neighbourhood or main street.
The Pop-up Retail Strategies textbook specifically highlights the following pop-up outcomes:
Pop-ups can reduce vacancies and create a sense of excitement and activity.
Pop-ups, especially when clustered, can attract increased foot traffic and visitors to check out a main street or a neighbourhood in a new way and thus activate the streetscape.
Pop-ups can generate opportunities for both landlords and tenants to engage in low-risk, short-term agreements as businesses recover from the pandemic shutdown.
Pop-ups add value by boosting the long-term appeal of the neighbourhood by creating a hub of the arts, cultural programming and creative spaces, and unique retail experiences.
Photo source: cbre.us
Let’s consider some examples of pop-ups as tools for economic and community revitalization.
One of the great advantages of pop-ups is that they are truly flexible and can be adapted according to the needs not only of a neighbourhood, but also the stakeholders involved.
In North America, art-inspired pop-ups have been used to activate empty spaces in New York and Seattle, among other places.
In 2008, New York City saw a significant increase in street-front retail vacancies as a result of the economic crisis and its aftermath. An organization called Empty No Longer decided to tackle these vacancies with a program that matched empty spaces with artists. At its core was the idea that art revitalizes communities. By working with landlords to provide empty spaces for a one- to three-month period, and by curating site-specific contemporary art exhibitions, the program produced 13 exhibitions in 2012 - after which five of the spaces were leased or secured paid uses. That’s an effective 38 per cent success rate in just one year.
A similar initiative was launched in Seattle in 2010 by not-for-profit arts’ organization Shunpike, which matched artists with vacant storefront windows as display spaces. At a monthly rent of $1, the initiative made it affordable for artists to display their installations and generate interest in the neighbourhood as a cultural destination. The month-by-month structure of the leases made it possible for landlords to still find and secure long-term tenants where possible. In this program, the street-front became a gallery of art installations, attracting heightened foot traffic – despite there being no “active” uses.
Photo source: metcalf.ca
In Toronto, the East Danforth led the way with a highly successful retail pop-up initiative that started in 2012 and continued for several years.
Perhaps the most oft-cited example from the City of Toronto is the pop-up program initiated by the Danforth East Community Association (DECA). Interestingly, this pop-up program was largely removed from any formal municipal protocols, something that later research found was an advantage and allowed the program to be implemented quickly. Entirely driven by volunteers, and focused on community-building, the program offered leases from one week to one month, with tenants initially only paying utility bills and minor building repairs. The first pop-up shop opened in 2012 and more than 20 pop-ups launched in the following months. Over time, the program evolved to generate a basic rental for landlords and a longer lease term of up to six months.
Photo source: Downtown Yonge BIA
As a final example, consider a music incubator in downtown Toronto.
Bearing in mind that arts and culture tourism generates $3.7 billion in Ontario annually, and mindful that 83 per cent of Torontonians identify downtown Toronto as their favourite destination for music concerts, Downtown Yonge BIA and Canada’s Music Incubator decided to partner on a pop-up music incubator in 2015-16.
The purpose of the pop-up, a 2,000 square foot facility, was to leverage downtown Toronto’s music heritage and focus attention on nurturing the music industry professionals of the future. Geared to developing music managers and self-managed artists from all over Canada, the program attracted 49 inquiries, which were whittled down to ten successful participants who took part in a three-month program from November 2015 to January 2016. All in all, the participants engaged with 52 direct music industry connections over 240+ hours of mentorship.
For the landlord, the space used for the pop-up was the subject of a re-development application and earned a rental income at a time when it would otherwise have sat empty. From a safety perspective, there was also an advantage to having activated rather than empty space.
And remember – pop-ups are only limited by the imagination.
There are examples from all over the world of pop-up parklets, children’s playgrounds, bike lane planters, farmer’s markets and arts fairs. The trick is to identify the specific challenges on your main street, see what supply of space is available and then look for creative, unique ways to activate those pop-ups!
Want more information? This is a good place to start: https://pop-upshops.ca/