Collaborative Pop-Up Retail Shops Activate New Small Businesses

The Illinois Institute of Technology recently profiled the work of Civic Projects. 

Recent pop-up event in Bronzeville featuring store fixtures designed and built by Illinois Tech IPRO and Architecture students.

... One of these visionaries is architect and Illinois Institute of Technology College of Architecture adjunct faculty Monica Chadha. She is also the founder of Civic Projects, LLC, a collaborative practice focusing on the design, development, and engagement of community-led projects. Utilizing her experiences with revitalization in Detroit, Chicago, and other areas, Chadha is the co-leader of a wave of pop-ups in our community that provides short-term trials of small businesses.
 
“Pop-ups create low-cost, low-risk opportunities that quickly transform a place for a very limited amount of time,” Chadha explains. “For example, an entrepreneur may want to test their business model in a location to see if there is demand before securing a long-term lease and spending money on a build-out with fixtures and larger inventories.”
 
Despite their short-term nature, pop-ups still require thoughtful consideration so that they provide meaningful feedback for any final long-term business creation. Through an approach referred to as placemaking, Chadha and her colleagues observe, listen, and question all who live, work, play, shop and participate in a community so as to learn its priority of needs and communal aspirations. Based on this, an effective pop-up strategy and implementation is developed...

READ MORE : 
Chatham Pop-Up
https://iit.edu/news/iittoday/?p=54012

Illinois Tech Community Affairs Newsletter
http://us11.campaign-archive2.com/?u=1be6a26f389a7d6e19a8bc2f2&id=2a6381de00&e=3ed5aca5cb