Temporary shops a way to help Detroit retail

[sg9018]

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."
jtrop@detnews.com">jtrop@detnews.com [[313) 222-2300
© Copyright 2009 The Detroit News. All rights reserved.

[English]

I think this is a great idea.

[BShea]

I see Hugh mentioned -- which I really want to get to because it sounds like cool stuff -- but that's it in the story. Are there other examples of this sort of temporary retail shop downtown? I thought maybe this was a trend, but I've only heard of Hugh around here. Any other examples people have heard of?

[ghettopalmetto]

I don't get it. Where's the "revival"? How do scattershot six-month-long business operations make the jump to permanent change? Why not just sell watches out of a trenchcoat and call it a "shopping district"?

[downtown_racine]

So catch em while they're drunk and fly by night. Party On !

[Downriviera]

Many on this forum would consider any business opening in Detroit to be temporary.

[Jimaz]

Kinda throws a wet rag on the idea of loyal customers and repeat business.

Drive-by commerce!

[detroitchef]

Gee, what a great idea, sure saves pesky details like paying for signage or hiring employees. Wait till he figures out he can screw the landlord out of rent by squatting and then 'closing' in the middle of the night! Yay for surburbanites!

I don't hang with this newfangled notion. I prefer to buy that kind of crap the old fashioned way. Either off a skeghead squatting on a piece of cardboard in an alley off of Prentis[[after they evicted his ass and WSU is about to ship him back to suburbia) or out of the trunk of a car that has pulled up next to me at a gas-station while I am filling up.

Besides, I know Joe Posch. Trust-fund kid from Grosse Pointe.

[Gistok]

Gee, what a great idea, sure saves pesky details like paying for signage or hiring employees. Wait till he figures out he can screw the landlord out of rent by squatting and then 'closing' in the middle of the night! Yay for surburbanites!

I don't hang with this newfangled notion. I prefer to buy that kind of crap the old fashioned way. Either off a skeghead squatting on a piece of cardboard in an alley off of Prentis[[after they evicted his ass and WSU is about to ship him back to suburbia) or out of the trunk of a car that has pulled up next to me at a gas-station while I am filling up.

Besides, I know Joe Posch. Trust-fund kid from Grosse Pointe.

Hmmmm... I wonder if he's a hipster who used to post here??

[SWMAP]

Are there any readers from Southwest solutions on here? I am certain that they are having trouble leasing their beautiful shop spaces on West Verner near Clark St.- but I hope they haven't succumbed to the neighborhood-prevailing junk shop level: last week-end I drove by and a shop was open [[open front door) and racks of old clothes hanging on the street. Piles of folded up stuff on the street. Junk visible inside and so new that brown butcher paper still covered the windows. If SS is leasing to junk collectors - what a shame.

[MotownSpartan]

Gee, what a great idea, sure saves pesky details like paying for signage or hiring employees. Wait till he figures out he can screw the landlord out of rent by squatting and then 'closing' in the middle of the night! Yay for surburbanites!

Actually, I think the owner lives in Detroit and attended high school in Detroit.

[jjaba]

This is not unique to Downtown Detroit. Retail all over the country is hurting. jjaba predicts you'll see these pop-ups all over the place during Holiday shopping periods. Over the Holiday period, most retailers do 50% of their business. So for the many unemployed, why not try your luck with a 90 day commitment in a vacant storefront in a Mall, strip center, or around Downtown Detroit?

Selling to the party set is what sparked the rennovation of downtown Royal Oak. The whole downtown is dedicated to a regional bar and tavern crowd. Why is anybody surprised?

jjaba, proudly Westside.

[Neilr]

Joe Posch did attend high school in Detroit, does live in Detroit, and has continually supported the emerging retail and cultural life in Detroit.

[ghettopalmetto]

Joe Posch did attend high school in Detroit, does live in Detroit, and has continually supported the emerging retail and cultural life in Detroit.

So if I opened a restaurant for six months with the intent of selling off all my leftover food, would I be the owner of an "emerging" restaurant?

This guy is just having a garage sale to get rid of a bunch of his dad's stuff. You're reading WAY too much into this--just like the simple-minded folks who said the Hudson's building was blocking the redevelopment of Detroit.

[detroitchef]

you're right, he did go to UD Jesuit while living in a mansion in Grosse Pointe, after attending grade school at Our Lady Star of the Sea in...Grosse Pointe.
I guess having grandpa's chauffeur take you to school every day gives you street cred.
My bad.

[detroitchef]

Joe Posch did attend high school in Detroit, does live in Detroit, and has continually supported the emerging retail and cultural life in Detroit.

Ok, so he grew up on a trust fund in Grosse Pointe, went to an expensive private HS in Detroit, moved out of Grosse Pointe to live in Detroit[[most likely Indian Village or Canaltown if not a condo on Woodward), and has now come up with a plan to have a 'temporary' store for six months to sell a bunch of hipster crap to other hipsters, because "they only come to certain places downtown at night"

Did I get your arguement right, that all this crap is going to REVOLUTIONIZE and save retail in Detroit? A bunch of hipster fly by night places that will be only open to other surburbanites, selling stuff only surburbanites would want? And that every six months the store will 'move' to another empty location, because the club it's nearby isn't 'cool' enough anymore? That mass sales of matchbooks from 1970 at 3 for a buck is going to SAVE DETROIT!????

My god, Obama STOLE that Nobel prize right out of this guy Posche's hands!!!!!

[dtowncitylover]

It looks like some people have taken this way too personal.

[j to the jeremy]

For what it's worth, he also owns a permanent business downtown. He's just trying to play off the trend in other cities of "pop-up" retail. I can't believe the amount of crap that comes out of this site sometimes.

Jjaba, thanks for keeping it sane.

[jayjoejee]

At least he's doing something. More than most.

[BillyBBrew]

Wow, does anyone else get the impression that Detroitchef is jealous of Mr. Posch? One successful business, and another temporary business that ANYONE can go to, not just suburbanite hipsters. My guess would be that the more successful Hugh, or any other business is, the more effort will be made to make it less temporary. And Mr. Posch does not live in any of the places mentioned by Detroitchef, his living accomodations are quite modest actually. I sometimes wonder why I read this forum with all it's personal bashing of people. And no, I don't have anything against Detroitchef and Joe Posch is not my best friend, I just think there's obviously something very personal here and jealousy is what comes to my mind.

[DetroitDad]

There will be more than one of these type of temporary shops that serve more than hipsters.... or so I hear.

[ghettopalmetto]

For what it's worth, he also owns a permanent business downtown. He's just trying to play off the trend in other cities of "pop-up" retail. I can't believe the amount of crap that comes out of this site sometimes.

I'm just curious to know what this "trend" is. I've never seen stores that were deliberately temporary, unless they were selling Halloween costumes. Please cite some other examples.

I'm having an even harder time figuring out how temporary retail is supposed to lead to permanent change. Maybe I'm not drawing the connection.

My fear is that there's always some new thing that's supposed to help "revitalize" downtown Detroit. People put their faith into the new thing, become complacent, and real and lasting change for the better never happens. Why is the News spending time writing on a [[deliberately) temporary store, when they need to be writing about the factors that are preventing permanent change?

[j to the jeremy]

From Wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pop-up_retail
From 2004:
http://trendwatching.com/trends/POPUP_RETAIL.htm
From NPR:
http://www.linkedin.com/answers/admi...75560-23911633

And no one is saying that this is supposed to "revitalize" anything, especially not the owner.
http://semimodern.com/2009/10/08/hugh-is-open/

The question you asked is the same one I have, which is why is this such a big deal?

[ghettopalmetto]

To me, the concept seems like it's based on buzzwords generated by some unemployed MBA student.

Is there anything preventing this particular young man from writing a sound business plan, growing a customer base, establishing a chain of suppliers, and making plans to grow his business instead of cashing out as soon as humanly possible? You get the impression he's just trying to get quick cash before he goes backpacking through Europe. Have we learned nothing about trying to make a quick buck?

[j to the jeremy]

http://store.mezzanine-online.com/