The Detroit News has a very interesting news story about how, temporary shops can enliven retailing in detroit; due to short timimg and possable hours.
http://detnews.com/article/20091110/...ail-in-Detroit
November 10, 2009http://detnews.com/article/20091110/BIZ/911100341

Temporary shops may revive retail in Detroit

JACLYN TROP
The Detroit News Detroit
Vintage cufflinks, cocktail shakers and a selection of titanium crystal beer glasses are not among the usual items found in a gritty Detroit enclave. And they won't be for long.
Entrepreneur Joe Posch opened his boutique Hugh, which sells items in the "classic bachelor style," from vintage matchbooks from the 1970s [[40 cents each or three for $1) to a bi-sectional sofa for $2,950, in an empty storefront in September. He will close in March, a lifespan that experts say could enliven retailing in Detroit.
"I felt that [[six months) was a good amount of time to have fun with it, build it up and have a graceful ending," said Posch.
The entrepreneur also owns the upscale furniture store Mezzanine -- which was formerly at Harmonie Park and is now in the Buhl Building and open by appointment.
Analysts say that if pop-up stores -- ephemeral outdoor retail spaces used to draw marketing buzz and promote new products -- are a sign of flush times, the temporary store is its counterpoint.
It makes sense that temporary stores, open six months or less, could buoy retail in Detroit at a time when the sector is mired in a historic low.
"The concept of temporary stores is really more realistic for the Michigan market," said Cynthia Kratchman, a broker with Landmark Commercial Real Estate Services in Farmington Hills. In this economy, landlords are more willing to accept shorter term leases and tenants with less business experience, Kratchman said. "They are also willing to do deals on terms that they never would have entertained even a year ago." It's no secret that downtown Detroit, which once boasted one of the grandest shopping districts in the country, lost its retail mojo several generations ago.
Efforts to revive it over the past few decades have fallen short, as the city suffers from a shrinking population and negative reputation.
Posch opened Hugh at 2233 Park Ave., a center for Detroit nightlife, with the popular Centaur Bar next door and Town Pump Tavern and Cliff Bell's nearby. He keeps the doors open from 4-10 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays and 4-11 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays to draw from the bar crowd.
"I was thinking, where are the people with money downtown?" Posch said. "The challenge right now is getting people to understand what [[Hugh) is."
But once in the store, at least 90 percent of browsers make a purchase, he said.
A model like Posch's -- temporary stores open late at night in the city's entertainment districts -- could be key to resurrecting retail here, experts said.
The time is right for temporary stores to gain a foothold in the local retail scene, Kratchman said.
Posch's formula could work for other retailers in Detroit, said Kees Janeway, a leasing consultant with Bieri Co., a real estate brokerage firm in Detroit.
Targeting pockets of nightlife "where people have fun" will draw willing shoppers with disposable income, he said.
"Young professionals with expendable cash aren't going to be shopping during the day because they're working."
Keeping late hours is an idea Detroit's independent retailers have flirted with for years, said Olga Savic Stella, vice president of business development for the Detroit Economic Growth Corp.
"It's a conundrum," Stella said. "People would really like retail businesses to stay open late, but it's risky for the owners if they don't get the traffic they expect."
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