Two new downtown businesses are preparing to host grand openings in conjunction with the October 3rd First Friday event in downtown Dayton.
• Ambition Magazine, 131 N. Ludlow St., Suite 319 (Talbott Tower): Ambition Magazine is an all-encompassing magazine for the young, urban professional. In addition to being the he
adquarters of the magazine, the offices will be used for meetings, events, and weekend training sessions on building websites to help young entrepreneurs develop a web presence at a reasonable cost.
• Scavenger, 31 S. St. Clair St. (St. Clair Lofts): If you are looking for something unique and different then you don’t need to scavenge other cities to do so. Scavenger sells everything from timeless vintage to rugged American handcrafted jewelry, accessories, home décor and apparel. In addition to designing their own products, Scavenger has uncovered an eclectic collection of items from the local area and abroad that will be available in their store.
The new shops are part of the seventh phase of the Pop-Up Project, part of an initiative to fill downtown storefronts called Activated Spaces. This program builds success of the first six phases of the Pop-Up Project, launched in November 2011, to provide potential business owners the opportunity for shorter leases at below-market rates as a way for them to jump-start their businesses and contribute to the vibrancy of downtown Dayton. Since it was started, the project has launched 16 shops (12 of which are still open), filled around 13,000 square feet of previously vacant space and created 29 jobs. Unique to this round of Pop-Up Shops is Ambition Magazine, which is the second Pop-Up Office Space project. “The Pop-Up Shop program was so successful for the retail shops that we are quickly running out of move-in-ready, street-level spaces,” explained Pop-Up project leader, Elise Huelskamp. “Now we are including vacant, move-in-ready office space in downtown Dayton. We’re confident Activated Spaces can showcase the available amenities and potential for business owners to thrive downtown alongside hundreds of other businesses.”
Pop-Up Shops from the previous phases of the project include Beaute Box, 116 W. Fifth St.; Vintage Barber Shop, 110 W. Fifth St.; Peace on Fifth, 234 Dutoit St.; Green Baby, now located at the 2nd Street Market; two stores at 16 Brown St., Spice Paradise and Hicks’ Barber Shop & Shave Parlor, Catapult Creative, 133 N Ludlow St.; Confetti, 42 W. Fifth St. In addition, two shops have expanded to new locations at least twice the size of their original Pop-Up Shop locations: American π, 41 S. St. Clair St., andSew Dayton, 261 Wayne Ave.
The Pop-Up Project is driven by volunteers from the young professional organizations Generation Daytonand UpDayton with support from the Downtown Dayton Partnership, the City of Dayton, the City of Dayton Neighborhood Mini-Grant program and community volunteers. Activated Spaces is part of theGreater Downtown Dayton Plan, a strategic blueprint for the future of downtown.
E-mail [email protected] for more information about Activated Spaces.
