1. Ashley Aidenbaum – Group Publisher
Rethinking Retail: Pop Ups, Food Trucks and
Other Trends from Detroit
ICSC 2013 Michigan Continuing Education Program

2. Our Publications

3. Traditional media is loss-oriented
in detroit

4. Help people see places differently

5. Help people see places differently

6. Editorial Approach - TIDE
Based on Carnegie Mellon University research by Dr. Kevin Stolarick
exploring the elements that create demand for a city, IMG
publications cover community advancement through the framework of
TIDE: Talent, Innovation, Diversity, Environment.

7. Core Coverage – Development News

8. Core Coverage – Startup, Innovation + Job Growth News

9. Long Tail – Filling the Coverage Gap
Recent Kauffman Foundation report demonstrates that without startups,
there would be no net job growth in the U.S. economy

10. Focus on Growth Instead of Loss

11. Free Weekly Email Newsletter

12. Defining Pop-Ups
• Short-term retail operations which “pop up” one day and are gone the
next
• Term “pop-up” is trendy, but concept is not new
• Benefit to retailers: in a down market, sellers can take advantage of
lower rents and shorter leases to generate sales and drive attention to
certain properties
• Popular types:
 Food and beverage
 Art gallery/exhibition
 Pop up yoga/fitness
 Jewelry and apparel
 Crafts
 Seasonal items

13. Model D Covers Trends in Detroit

14. Tashmoo Beirgarten – West Village

15. Urban Grounds – Eastern Market

16. Komodo Kitchen – Midtown
Doing pop-ups has been an amazing experience for us. It has helped us build our brand
and audience and test our product with no capital investment. - April Boyle

17. Café con Leche – Lafayette Park
"We were looking for a neighborhood that has the
same type of community - Lafayette Park has that
feel.”
- Jordi Carbonell, co-owner, Café con Leche

18. Moosejaw – Woodward and Grand River

19. Somerset CityLoft – Lower Woodward Corridor
Part of effort to fill retail from Campus Martius to Grand Circus Park

20. Rustbelt Market – Ferndale
“What you will see as a shopper when you walk through the doors will leave you in awe. It is the
result of a collective of 60+ of the best creative based businesses Michigan has to offer consuming
15,000 sq feet of a former corporate big box.”

21. Jacques Tacos – Metro Detroit

22. Revolve Detroit
REVOLVE is a collaborative program of the Detroit Economic
Growth Corporation (DEGC) that partners with local leaders,
building owners, entrepreneurs, and artists to activate vacant
storefronts with transformational businesses and art
installations.

23. Challenges
• Financial/Practical
• Startup investments (equipment + fixtures)
• Obtaining market analysis/feel
• Registers/payment method (Square)
• Attaining critical mass
• Accessibility to new entrepreneurs

24. Opportunities for Retailers
Short-term benefits:
•Marketing a location
•Flexibility with unfinished spaces/spaces in transition
•Short term occupancy – better than vacancy
•Allows potential occupants to feel out location
•May provide helpful sales data for potential long-term occupants
Big picture:
•Activating spaces/creating a destination
•Regional economic development to build prosperity
•Building stronger neighborhoods and communities

25. Recommendations for Real Estate Professionals
• How to leverage
• Partnerships with economic development and other entities
• Leasing suggestions
• License agreement (versus lease) laying out terms
• Other considerations/challenges
• Insurance
• Utilities
• Health department
• Make sure all parties are clear on long term intentions
• Have a strategy
• Marketing
• Communication
• Engagement

26. Further Recs from Revolve Detroit
Recommendations from Michael Forsyth – DEGC
•Make connections – building owners + entrepreneurs
•Partnerships are key to success – local community orgs and others may have
insider info on what the area wants and needs
•Leverage resources to simplify the process –
“At REVOLVE, we’ve developed some key tools to accelerate the pop-up process. For
example, we help file temporary food licenses with the health department for our pop-
ups. The simple two week permit is half off if it’s filed by a non-profit ($125 non-profit,
$250 for-profit), which is one more reason to team up with REVOLVE or your local CDC.
We customized a “license agreement,” kindly provided from Pittsburgh’s pop-up
program, as a substitute for a lease. It’s a simple agreement between building owners,
pop-up tenants and REVOLVE. Next year we’ll be releasing a guide with all the
permits, checklists and resources entrepreneurs need in one place.”
•Tell the story!

27. Further Recs from Model D for Entrepreneurs
Tips from Claire Nelson – Model D
•Be conservative about your expectations.
•Cluster, cluster, cluster. West Village is a great example. Not one pop-up
store/event on its own, but a few at one time. Give people multiple reasons to
go to a new place! This, of course, takes extra work/time for collaboration &
coordination between multiple retailers/events.
•It's all about your social network & appetite for heavy social media
activity. That first blast of editorial love from the local papers will get you
your first big wave -- but maintaining that, even for a short burst of a few
weeks or months, is where you'll have to get creative.

28. Resources
• Model D http://www.modeldmedia.com/
• Metromode http://www.metromodemedia.com/
• Urban Innovation Exchange: http://www.uixdetroit.com/
• Curbed http://detroit.curbed.com/
• REVOLVE Detroit http://www.degc.org/local-data.aspx/revolve-detroit-
is-a-retail-evolution Michael Forsyth: mforsyth@DEGC.ORG
• Good http://www.good.is/magazine
• Next American City http://nextcity.org/
• Spacing http://spacing.ca/

29. About IMG
Issue Media Group is an Inc 5000 Detroit-based media company that
publishes independent journalism online and in weekly email newsletters.
Founded in 2006 to tell the transformative stories unfolding in America’s
cities, identify and report on influencers driving “what’s next.”
Issue Media Group publications focus on the “long tail” of startups and
small businesses creating jobs, and the change-makers and doers leading
cities into the new economy.

30. Contact
Claire Nelson, Publisher of Model D
claire@modeldmedia.com
Ashley Aidenbaum, Group Publisher
ashley@issuemediagroup.com
313.355.0520