Pop-up market for BIPOC entrepreneurs reimagines empty Duluth storefronts
A view of downtown Duluth from above Interstate 35.
Duluth Waterfront Collective
Every town and city has a downtown that needs some love. For decades, suburban malls have created competition for these more historic central shopping districts. In Duluth, the Greater Downtown Council is supporting a pop-up market featuring nine BIPOC entrepreneurs in storefront spaces in downtown Duluth.
This isn’t the first time they’ve done this. So how successful is this pop-up market idea? Kristi Stokes is president of the Greater Downtown Council in Duluth. She joined Cathy Wurzer to talk about what’s happening.
Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.
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Audio transcript
INTERVIEWER: Wherever you live, what do you think of your town's downtown? Is it thriving or barely hanging on? For decades, suburban malls have created competition for central shopping districts.
In Duluth, the Greater Downtown Council is supporting a pop-up market featuring nine BIPOC entrepreneurs in storefront spaces in Downtown Duluth. Now, this is not the first time they've done this. So how successful is this pop-up idea? We're going to find out.
Kristi Stokes is the president of the Greater Downtown Council in Duluth. She's on the line right now to tell us about what's happening. Kristi, welcome to Minnesota Now.
KRISTI STOKES: Hi. Thanks so much for having me.
INTERVIEWER: Absolutely. Gosh, I remember doing a story several years ago, I think, of this was the first time that Duluth, with the with the some of the vacant storefronts, opened them up to fledgling businesses for rent free. And I believe it was for the holidays. And it was a big success. So what are we talking about here with the pop-up collab?
KRISTI STOKES: Yeah, so we did do many of them over the years for the holiday season. And so this time we wanted to take a look at the summer season and going into the fall. And we teamed up with the City of Duluth 1200 Fund so that there was actually additional financial assistance for the entrepreneurs as well.
And we looked at a space that was a building that had a couple storefronts in it so that it was a larger space that had been vacant in one of our blocks. And we just saw that as an opportunity to try to fill it and try to activate it. And that's exactly what we've done.
INTERVIEWER: Where exactly is the building?
KRISTI STOKES: It's in the 300 block of West Superior Street, so right in our main street in an area where there is some retail right near some of our banks as well. And so it just felt like an area that was just in need of some assistance and a great way to activate it.
INTERVIEWER: OK, so if I were to walk into this building, what would I see?
KRISTI STOKES: You would see-- so we have eight entrepreneurs there. They're all BIPOC entrepreneurs. And you would find anything from cheesecakes and urban clothing to lotions, soaps, cosmetics. And it was really just a total transformation of the space.
The space has been vacant for a while. And when we walked in the first time, we really had to use our imagination of how it could look. And what was great was to see these entrepreneurs really working together and using their creativity to transform the space in a short amount of time. They painted walls.
They just transformed areas. And they really have it set up as individual spaces. So it's kind of like walking into a market. There is a vacant space between their two buildings. But we have a hallway that sends people right between both of the buildings.
INTERVIEWER: So I'm wondering about the various businesses in the collab. Tell me, give me a story about one of them that really excites you.
KRISTI STOKES: Oh gosh, you know I hate to single one out over the other.
INTERVIEWER: Sure. Sorry.
KRISTI STOKES: But I'll tell you one that we've seen at quite a few different markets around the area. And that is Cheesecake & Company. And so they actually make various different flavors of cheesecake. And they do it in a jar. So you can get a small jar and you can take it with you.
And I think they've just really had some great success at different markets. And it's just fun to be able to see them growing. Of course, many of us have had to sample it already. So we know. They have various different flavors, red velvet and Reese's peanut butter cup and cookies and cream, so just many different varieties that you can have from that, too. So it's really fun to watch them see what they're finding that they might need to be in a brick-and-mortar space versus being out at a market.
INTERVIEWER: I'm wondering the reaction so far, what are folks saying?
KRISTI STOKES: I think it's really a positive. One, just the fact that the space is activated, and two, really bringing more diversity to our downtown area and lifting up individuals who might feel like they didn't have opportunities before. And so this is really giving them an opportunity to see what is it like to have a storefront? What is it like to have to be at that storefront from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM six days a week, and really think about the ways of, even though we had a grand-opening celebration, how do you keep those people coming in your door?
And so these are all things that they're learning of OK, we need to do some additional marketing here. Or how can we connect with people better? So I think it's always a great learning experience for individuals, too.
INTERVIEWER: I'm in downtown Duluth at least once a month at the Alworth Building there where our studios are at NPR. And so I get the opportunity to walk the Superior Street area there. And when you had the reconstruction, that really did not help, obviously, businesses.
So with these entrepreneurs, they're getting their feet wet right now. If they feel they want to continue on, because you have so much in the way of empty storefronts in Downtown Duluth, will you offer them reduced rent, perhaps, to fill in some of these gaps in downtown?
KRISTI STOKES: That's really going to be up to us thinking about it as we go into the future working with property owners. I suspect you will see us doing some additional pop-ups for the holiday season. So we're already having some of those conversations with some property owners.
But we also want to make sure that we set people up for success. So while there may be some vacancy in our downtown, that's not always prime vacancy. So it may be something that's hidden away or around an avenue or not necessarily in a main area. It might be on a skywalk connection. And so we just want to make sure that we're not putting someone in a space that doesn't see a lot of traffic.
For these individuals, I think there's a lot of strength in numbers for them to have this collab and to be together as well. So I really get excited about thinking about how do you expand a collab? Or how do you have something like this moving forward into the future and seeing what that looks like?
INTERVIEWER: I mentioned, of course, the reconstruction of Superior Street, which was a little tough there at times. What did you lose in terms of business storefronts because of that?
KRISTI STOKES: We really didn't lose much. I want to say there were one or two businesses. And our reconstruction of Superior Street came two years before the pandemic. And then our final year of Superior Street reconstruction was during the pandemic.
And so some of those businesses in that final stretch kind of said, well, if there's any year to have a pandemic, it might be during a Superior Street reconstruction, because we were already going to be losing some business already. So I would say that many of our businesses fared well during the construction. We really worked closely with them on some of the marketing aspect. But we're all facing what every community has faced and still trying to get through things because of the pandemic as well.
INTERVIEWER: Because Miller Hall Mall isn't exactly what it was years ago, are you seeing a growth in downtown?
KRISTI STOKES: I think right now, it really all has to deal with the pandemic. Many downtowns across the country are just dealing with the fact that there are fewer employees still in their downtowns, including ours. We have not seen all of our employees come back, nor will we ever see all of our employee base come back.
So I think we really need to be looking at what's that next mix? And we know it will likely be the housing aspect of it. We have some housing in our downtown already. So do many across the country.
But I think you're going to see more conversions of that. Right now, I will even say in our building, where our offices are located, there are 38 residential units going up above us. So I think that activation also really helps grow some of the retail and grow some of that demand as well.
INTERVIEWER: All right, we'll see what happens. Kristi Stokes, thanks for the conversation. I appreciate it.
KRISTI STOKES: Hey, it's always good talking to you. Thanks so much.
INTERVIEWER: Likewise. Kristi Stokes is president of the Greater Downtown Council in Duluth.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
In Duluth, the Greater Downtown Council is supporting a pop-up market featuring nine BIPOC entrepreneurs in storefront spaces in Downtown Duluth. Now, this is not the first time they've done this. So how successful is this pop-up idea? We're going to find out.
Kristi Stokes is the president of the Greater Downtown Council in Duluth. She's on the line right now to tell us about what's happening. Kristi, welcome to Minnesota Now.
KRISTI STOKES: Hi. Thanks so much for having me.
INTERVIEWER: Absolutely. Gosh, I remember doing a story several years ago, I think, of this was the first time that Duluth, with the with the some of the vacant storefronts, opened them up to fledgling businesses for rent free. And I believe it was for the holidays. And it was a big success. So what are we talking about here with the pop-up collab?
KRISTI STOKES: Yeah, so we did do many of them over the years for the holiday season. And so this time we wanted to take a look at the summer season and going into the fall. And we teamed up with the City of Duluth 1200 Fund so that there was actually additional financial assistance for the entrepreneurs as well.
And we looked at a space that was a building that had a couple storefronts in it so that it was a larger space that had been vacant in one of our blocks. And we just saw that as an opportunity to try to fill it and try to activate it. And that's exactly what we've done.
INTERVIEWER: Where exactly is the building?
KRISTI STOKES: It's in the 300 block of West Superior Street, so right in our main street in an area where there is some retail right near some of our banks as well. And so it just felt like an area that was just in need of some assistance and a great way to activate it.
INTERVIEWER: OK, so if I were to walk into this building, what would I see?
KRISTI STOKES: You would see-- so we have eight entrepreneurs there. They're all BIPOC entrepreneurs. And you would find anything from cheesecakes and urban clothing to lotions, soaps, cosmetics. And it was really just a total transformation of the space.
The space has been vacant for a while. And when we walked in the first time, we really had to use our imagination of how it could look. And what was great was to see these entrepreneurs really working together and using their creativity to transform the space in a short amount of time. They painted walls.
They just transformed areas. And they really have it set up as individual spaces. So it's kind of like walking into a market. There is a vacant space between their two buildings. But we have a hallway that sends people right between both of the buildings.
INTERVIEWER: So I'm wondering about the various businesses in the collab. Tell me, give me a story about one of them that really excites you.
KRISTI STOKES: Oh gosh, you know I hate to single one out over the other.
INTERVIEWER: Sure. Sorry.
KRISTI STOKES: But I'll tell you one that we've seen at quite a few different markets around the area. And that is Cheesecake & Company. And so they actually make various different flavors of cheesecake. And they do it in a jar. So you can get a small jar and you can take it with you.
And I think they've just really had some great success at different markets. And it's just fun to be able to see them growing. Of course, many of us have had to sample it already. So we know. They have various different flavors, red velvet and Reese's peanut butter cup and cookies and cream, so just many different varieties that you can have from that, too. So it's really fun to watch them see what they're finding that they might need to be in a brick-and-mortar space versus being out at a market.
INTERVIEWER: I'm wondering the reaction so far, what are folks saying?
KRISTI STOKES: I think it's really a positive. One, just the fact that the space is activated, and two, really bringing more diversity to our downtown area and lifting up individuals who might feel like they didn't have opportunities before. And so this is really giving them an opportunity to see what is it like to have a storefront? What is it like to have to be at that storefront from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM six days a week, and really think about the ways of, even though we had a grand-opening celebration, how do you keep those people coming in your door?
And so these are all things that they're learning of OK, we need to do some additional marketing here. Or how can we connect with people better? So I think it's always a great learning experience for individuals, too.
INTERVIEWER: I'm in downtown Duluth at least once a month at the Alworth Building there where our studios are at NPR. And so I get the opportunity to walk the Superior Street area there. And when you had the reconstruction, that really did not help, obviously, businesses.
So with these entrepreneurs, they're getting their feet wet right now. If they feel they want to continue on, because you have so much in the way of empty storefronts in Downtown Duluth, will you offer them reduced rent, perhaps, to fill in some of these gaps in downtown?
KRISTI STOKES: That's really going to be up to us thinking about it as we go into the future working with property owners. I suspect you will see us doing some additional pop-ups for the holiday season. So we're already having some of those conversations with some property owners.
But we also want to make sure that we set people up for success. So while there may be some vacancy in our downtown, that's not always prime vacancy. So it may be something that's hidden away or around an avenue or not necessarily in a main area. It might be on a skywalk connection. And so we just want to make sure that we're not putting someone in a space that doesn't see a lot of traffic.
For these individuals, I think there's a lot of strength in numbers for them to have this collab and to be together as well. So I really get excited about thinking about how do you expand a collab? Or how do you have something like this moving forward into the future and seeing what that looks like?
INTERVIEWER: I mentioned, of course, the reconstruction of Superior Street, which was a little tough there at times. What did you lose in terms of business storefronts because of that?
KRISTI STOKES: We really didn't lose much. I want to say there were one or two businesses. And our reconstruction of Superior Street came two years before the pandemic. And then our final year of Superior Street reconstruction was during the pandemic.
And so some of those businesses in that final stretch kind of said, well, if there's any year to have a pandemic, it might be during a Superior Street reconstruction, because we were already going to be losing some business already. So I would say that many of our businesses fared well during the construction. We really worked closely with them on some of the marketing aspect. But we're all facing what every community has faced and still trying to get through things because of the pandemic as well.
INTERVIEWER: Because Miller Hall Mall isn't exactly what it was years ago, are you seeing a growth in downtown?
KRISTI STOKES: I think right now, it really all has to deal with the pandemic. Many downtowns across the country are just dealing with the fact that there are fewer employees still in their downtowns, including ours. We have not seen all of our employees come back, nor will we ever see all of our employee base come back.
So I think we really need to be looking at what's that next mix? And we know it will likely be the housing aspect of it. We have some housing in our downtown already. So do many across the country.
But I think you're going to see more conversions of that. Right now, I will even say in our building, where our offices are located, there are 38 residential units going up above us. So I think that activation also really helps grow some of the retail and grow some of that demand as well.
INTERVIEWER: All right, we'll see what happens. Kristi Stokes, thanks for the conversation. I appreciate it.
KRISTI STOKES: Hey, it's always good talking to you. Thanks so much.
INTERVIEWER: Likewise. Kristi Stokes is president of the Greater Downtown Council in Duluth.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
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