Love of travel inspires pop up shop

 winchesterWendy Smith from Winchester has turned her love of travel into a business venture by opening a pop up shop in Stockbridge Road.

 With a launch party at Kathmandu and TV travel presenter Charlie Ottley cutting the ribbon, the shop is sure to be a success.

Wendy said: “I’m selling goods from places like Nepal, India and Morocco. I travel extensively and have found my own sources - families I have got to know since travelling.  It started when I would bring things back and friends said they liked them.”

Pop in and take a look if you’re in the Winchester area.

Cocomaya pops up at Heathrow

Chocolatier and artisan baker Cocomaya is opening a pop up shop in time for Easter at London Heathrow’s Terminal 5.  The shop will sell a range of delicious morsels such as cakes, pastries, sandwiches, chocolate bars and truffles alongside hot and cold drinks.

The pop up space within the terminal is designed to bring small artisan brands into the airport. Cocomaya is the first retailer to launch int he space and will be open until the summer.

Emergency measures to reverse the decline of London’s high streets?

London AssemblyLondon Assembly’s Economy Committee has suggested a number ideas to reverse the decline in London’s high streets, including renegotiating rents and slowing the spread of pawnbrokers and betting shops.

The Assembly said that in 2000, a third of retail spending took place in out of town centres or on the Internet. By 2011 this had increased to 42% – and the number of empty shops in London has increased in the last two years by 5% to 3,400. The report also warns the vacancy increase is contributing to the decline, discouraging shoppers and leading to the closure of other retailers who might otherwise have survived.

The Committee has called for London-wide support to renegotiate rents, a new register of owners of vacant shops so landlords can be easily traced and pop up and interim uses for empty shops.

Andrew Dismore, Chair of the Economy Committee, said: “Our traditionally diverse and interesting high streets are blighted by the number of empty shops which are a deterrent to customers, discourage further investment, and create an air of decline.”

A spokesperson for the Mayor of London said more than £250m was being invested to help bring vacant properties back into use, revitalise shop fronts and to support trade and generate jobs.

“The Mayor welcomes this report and will continue to work with the boroughs, government and business groups to help unlock the economic potential of London’s high streets,” added the spokesperson.

Made in Northamptonshire still going strong

Made in NorthamptonshireTrading for just over three months, the Made in Northamptonshire pop up store in St Giles Street, Northampton is still going strong. Helen Senogles, who oversees the project, explained: “We opened two weeks before Christmas and we have the lease for nine months. It is a showcase for all local artists, designers and crafts people.”

a\The project has been supported by a range of groups which includes Creative Northants, the University of Northampton, the Business Improvement district and the Northamptonshire Enterprise Partnership

Helen said: “Creative Northants put out an advert two weeks before Christmas and we have had more than 200 artists and designers already. We took that down to 40 for the first month and since then we have taken on more artists from across the county – Wellingborough, Kettering, Corby – and they have all sorts of skills, from contemporary to traditional. There are so many different artists and so many different people producing things in the county.”

She added: “We had an amazing Christmas and smashed every target and, now we are growing to accommodate different targets, we are holding drop-in sessions with Creative Northants. We have until August and then we will have to see how the project develops from there.”

Parsons Bakery transforming their pop up into a permanent fixture

Parsons BakeryBristol based Parsons Bakery has revealed that their temporary site in Bedminster, which opened on 15th December, has been trading at a profit and the company now wants to continue operating the shop.

Parsons Bakery is a family-run chain of 34 retail stores. They were originally approached by Community Regeneration Group Way Out West to open the pop up.

Nick Parsons, Managing Director at Parsons Bakery, said: “The Group surveyed the surrounding residents to see which stores they valued the most and would like to see reopen on their high street, and a local bakery came in at the top of their list. So the Community Group asked any local landlords who had empty properties if they would be interested in letting for a pop-up shop.” He added that his company could not justify spending its normal new store refurbishment costs of £70,000, but set a £5,000 budget to transform the 250 sq ft shop.

Parsons explained: “The store has a limited product range which features all of the normal bakery classics…but has just a few options in each category so we can offer all our ‘best sellers’ and also minimise any waste. We were clear and honest from the outset that this pop up had to generate a profit and was not a charity cause. We have been delighted with the results. The store trades profitably and above our initial expectations, and we are exploring all options for continuing at the site after the three month period runs out. The local residents love having a baker back on their street and have been very supportive – at the end of the day if they use it, it will stay trading.”

We hear a lot about support for startup companies wanting to trade from a pop up store. This is a great reminder that established businesses can benefit from the pop up model and play a really important part in regenerating our high streets in doing so.

 

Corner House pop up shop

Corner HouseThe Corner House – an empty office in Market Place, Braintree – is to be let out to entrepreneurs to set up temporary pop up shops. The premises will be let out to new tenants every 12 weeks under its new name, ‘The Egg’.

For only £75 per week (which includes rent and utilities), the business will benefit from not only space but advice and support from Braintree Council’s Town Team and the Ignite Business Advisory Service.

Any interested parties should contact amy.pitt@braintree.gov.uk for more information.

Warm up pop up shop

Warm homes99 Risbygate Street, Bury St Edmunds will host a pop up shop offering advice on how to keep warm in winter and how to get help if you are struggling to pay your energy bills. Visitors will be able to find out if they are eligible for some of the free help on offer including insulation, draught proofing or assistance with paying fuel bills or the loan of a heater. The ‘Warm Homes Healthy People’ scheme also offers home energy surveys and can help owners or tenants with a private landlord.

Housing minister urges town centres to use pop up shops

Mark Prisk, Minister for Housing, has urged Town Teams to use pop up shops to boost flagging high streets. Showcasing the Government’s first pop up shop within the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) office building in London, Mr Prisk said: “I’m able to stand tall and proud and say we’ve done it and so can you.”

DCLG has been working for some time to revitalise our flagging high streets, funding Town Teams following the Portas Review. Mr Prisk now expects pop-up shops to help with the revitalization of town centres, but believes the main barrier is likely to be property owners. “Landlords will need to move away from conventional blue chip chains”, he said.

Here at Popupspace we’ve negotiated hundreds of pop up lease deals since we started out back in 2008. As property agents we do understand the concerns of landlords as well as the opportunities pop up leasing can offer tenants. Although we’ve seen landlord confidence in the pop up concept grow over the past couple of years, there is still progress to be made and we are delighted that the Government is supporting the UK’s fledgling pop up industry.

PopUp Britain’s first pop up shop outside of London

Launching this week is the first pop up shop managed by PopUp Britain outside of London.  The pop up is based in Moreton-Marsh in Gloucestershire and will offer 12 small businesses the chance to trial their companies in a retail space.

StartUp Britain co-founder Emma Jones has indicated that this is just the beginning of PopUp Britain’s national roll out, stating: “We are delighted to be able to take our first steps outside London.  Watch out for many more coming soon”.

Bluesky Pie

Making a difference to the lives of homeless people in Folkstone, community music company Bluesky Pie is running a pop up shop at 67 Old High Street from Saturday until 23rd February.

In aid of the Folkstone Churches Winter Shelter, the shop will be open daily between 10am and 4pm and will be selling second hand clothing, books and toys to help fund a van for the project.

Organiser Di Burns said: “We think it’s so important to look after homeless people in our community.  We went to visit the shelter in one of the churches last week and we were very moved by how hard the volunteers work to care for their clients.  We met some lovely people who were very pleased there was such provision so we want to raise as much money as possible for them.”

For more information see www.wintershelter.org.uk