Pop-up retailers have become "the new black" for holiday shopping in downtown Detroit, and more retail is on the way.
CityLoft, an assortment of more than 40 stores from
The Somerset Collection in Troy, will open up a string of pop-up stores on Woodward just north of Campus Martius. It will join a number of other temporary retailers on the entire 1200 block of Woodward, which is the line of storefronts across from the site of the old Hudson Department Store.
"We want to engage and create a great retail destination in downtown Detroit," says Dan Mullen, director of real-estate development for
Bedrock Real Estate Services, which is spearheading the effort to bring more retailers to the Motor City's Central Business District. "Because of Somerset's CityLoft success (from brief stints earlier this year and last year) we were able to attract
Moosejaw to come to downtown Detroit."
Among the other pop-up retailers in the lower Woodward corridor this holiday season are,
The Detroit Shoppe (a store with all Detroit merchandise), Santa’s Wonderland (a shop where kids can buy inexpensive gifts for the family), Detroit Art Shoppe (a market featuring original work from Detroit artists), Spinergy (a fitness studio with stationary bikes), and Papa Joe's Snack Rack (a mini-market with a sampling of products from Papa Joe's).
These stores are the latest in an effort by Bedrock Real Estate Services, the real-estate arm of the Quicken Loans family of companies, to create a retail destination in downtown Detroit. The idea is to create a unique retail experience through a combination of national retailers and boutique shops and restaurants.
The people behind these efforts are not only looking at filling vacant storefronts on Woodward but turning alleyways into dynamic spaces for pedestrians.
"Part of our plan is to take these alleys and create a very cool place where you can enter the building with great art and cafe tables," Mullen says. "It's all about street activity."
Source: Dan Mullen, director of real-estate development for Bedrock Real Estate Services
Writer: Jon Zemke
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