Idea from Cleveland’s Warehouse District: Small Box Storefronts
(Guest View by Ronnie Karpinsi, Pontiac Pride, July 1, 2015)
Note: This was originally written for the blog Pontiac Pride, and is presented as an idea for Lot 9 in Downtown Pontiac.
I write you from the great city of Cleveland this evening. As I venture around the world over the next few years I am on a mission to gather ideas from other cities to innovate our downtown and neighborhoods. Today I ventured over to the Warehouse District in Cleveland, an up and coming hip neighborhood off of downtown. This was my first trip to the Warehouse District and I was blown away by the level of unique new store fronts and design. On the edge of a parking lot stands three new store fronts made out of recycled shipping containers. As I was walking by amazed of my discovery, I ran into the store manager of “Banyan Box,” a clothing, souvenir, jewelry and card shop. She explained that the Warehouse District Association is responsible for bringing this concept to the neighborhood. She explained that the units are rentals and four additional units will be added in the coming year.
I think this is a creative, innovative and affordable concept that could come to Downtown Pontiac. While Lot 9 does offer an abundance of parking, it could potentially host a pop up store front concept. This would be great for new businesses and businesses looking to expand to Pontiac. The best part about the idea is that if it bombed it could easily be removed without little, if any disturbance.
More info on the Small Box program can be found at http://www.clevelandcontainerstructures.com/new-projects/.
Do you want to share ideas you find in your travels, or other things you think fellow Oakland County readers should know about? Message oc115 Editor Crystal Proxmire at editor@oc115.com.