Activated Spaces, an initiative to fill downtown storefronts, is accepting applications for short-term retail and service businesses to open downtown this spring as part of the thirteenth phase of its Pop-Up Shop Project. The project matches business owners and entrepreneurs with downtown property owners who have first-floor storefront space available for occupancy.
Interested retailers should fill out an application, which can be filled out online at www.activatedspaces.org, or downloaded and emailed to Jen Cadieux at cadieux@downtowndayton.org. The application deadline is 5 p.m. Friday, April 20. Tenants will be notified May 4, and retailers must be ready to open in June.
Lease lengths will range from three to six months. The spaces will have varying lease rates, but will be leased below market value. Activated Spaces volunteers will connect retailers with commercial property owners, help make the space move-in ready, and promote the business during such events as First Friday and DP&L Summer in the City. Selected businesses will negotiate leasing terms directly with the selected property owner, but flexibility for the tenant is a priority.
Activated Spaces volunteers are building on the success of the Pop-Up Project’s previous phases. Eleven of the businesses that have opened as part of the Pop-Up Project are still open: Beaute Box, 20 W. Monument Ave; Peace on Fifth, 234 Dutoit St.; Vintage Barbershop, 110 W. Fifth St.; Spice Paradise, 16 Brown St.; Hicks’ Barber Shop, 16 Brown St.; Twist Cupcakery, 25 S. St. Clair St.; Mitosis, 14 W. 1stSt. Suite 302; Baker Salvage Co, 31 S. St. Clair St.; Buckeye Laptop, 133 N. Ludlow; and Soccer Shots, 39 S. St. Clair St. Former pop-up shops Beaute Box and Catapult Creative have moved from their original pop-up shop locations to larger spaces. Since the inception of the project in 2011, more than 25,000 square feet of previously vacant space has been occupied and 41 new jobs have been created.
Two of the Pop-Up Shop alumni, Beaute Box and Spice Paradise, will host their own grand re-opening events during April’s First Friday. Spice Paradise will celebrate its return to 16 Brown St. after being displaced for several months from a fire in the building. Beaute Box has expanded and is throwing an open-house party at the salon’s new location at 20 W. Monument Ave. Both events take place on Friday, April 6.
Commercial property owners interested in offering space to Pop-Up owners should contact Jen Cadieux at 937-224-1518. Once a match is made, a small stipend is available to be distributed at the discretion of the Activated Spaces team to each of the businesses each month for the first three months to assist in off-setting startup costs.
The Pop-Up Project is driven by volunteers from the young professional organizations UpDayton and Generation Dayton with support from the Downtown Dayton Partnership, and community volunteers. Activated Spaces is part of the Greater Downtown Dayton Plan, a strategic blueprint for the future of downtown.
Those interested in volunteering with Activated Spaces should e-mail activatedspaces@gmail.com.
