New tenants poised to reboot downtown Pop Up Shop

For Hub City Times

MARSHFIELD — The Pop Up Shop is set to return to the downtown. A Pop Up Shop is a temporary store that pops up for a limited time. Main Street Marshfield saw great success with the first Pop Up Shop, which was operated over the 2015 holiday season, and is planning to bring it back with new businesses on July 1, 2016.

In speaking to past participants, the overall assessment of the Pop Up Shop was positive. “This program has been helpful in allowing locals to try out our products. … It has helped people become more aware of other businesses,” Gary Burich said when asked about his experience. Burich and his family from Burich Bunch Bakery were an integral part of the past Pop Up Shop.

Klunky Chic, which sells an assortment of refurbished furniture and home décor, and Pamba Adornments, who sells authentic African jewelry, were also part of the first Pop Up Shop. All three businesses enjoyed the awareness and foot traffic that having a storefront on Central Avenue brought them.

In partnership with downtown property owners, the Main Street organization is working to fill vacant storefronts both temporarily and permanently.

“Not only does the Pop Up Shop fill a vacant storefront, it gives entrepreneurs the opportunity to test out their business idea in the Marshfield market,” said Main Street Marshfield Executive Director Angie Eloranta.

With the first Pop Up Shop complete, the Main Street organization plans to make some adjustments to the times and management requirements, but for the most part it will be a similar setup.

“We received a lot of constructive feedback from the past participants on how we can make it better and more feasible for expanding or new businesses to participate,” said Erin Howard, a Main Street Marshfield board member. “We will be implementing these new ideas and stepping up our promotion of the Pop Up to make sure customers are able to get there within the limited one-month time frame.”

Main Street Marshfield is accepting applications for the summer Pop Up Shop until May 23. Anyone interested should contact the Main Street Marshfield office at 715-387-3299 or [email protected].