Love Philly? So do we. Let’s be friends. Sign up for the Billy Penn newsletter today.
Alexa Colas says she never imagined how far her love for music would take her. It started with the idea to “turn my living room into a record store,” she said.
The room continued to evolve – as a listening space and then a performance venue. And now, her business will have a temporary brick-and-mortar store space on Market Street.
Colas’ business, Clubfriends Radio & Records, is one of six new pop-ups that will move onto the 900 block of Market Street.
The pop-up model will give small businesses a way to showcase their offerings in parts of the city they may not otherwise be able to consider, said David Rosenwasser, co-CEO of Rarify, another one of the pop-ups.
“The idea of trying to activate really noteworthy parts of the city for retail at a time when a small business like us sees retail as unbelievably risky, expensive, and scary, was incredible,” he said.
Rarify specializes in furniture, offering everything from brand new, contemporary pieces to vintage, accessible finds.
The store currently has a space on Bainbridge Street between 7th and 8th streets in South Philly. But, Rossenwater said this new space will open up unique opportunities.
“This space will have some more education-focused, Penn-focused and local designer-focused initiatives,” he said. “It will also be more attentive to basically showing off stuff that’s more affordable than what we would typically have in our showroom.”
The space will also provide a chance to connect with more Philadelphians, Rossenwater said.
“I think one of the goals for us is to really better understand and also sort of form a closer kinship with the city, because we’re a relatively young business in Philly, and we feel we need to put the work in and cement ourselves in the community in a more meaningful way.”
For Colas, this changes the game.
“Since it was in my living room, there was a limited amount of people that I could interact with, and those relationships were already established,” she said. “But being here on Market Street means that there’s even more opportunity for storytelling.”
Helping Market East
The idea comes from a nonprofit, Meantime, that aims to temporarily fill vacant retail space.
Brian Phillips, the director of Meantime, explained that “a lot of people were asking for too much money per month for too long a lease, and there’s a lot of folks that can’t figure out how to put that together, hire an architect and a lawyer and do all that stuff.”
“So, Meantime’s idea was, while owners wait for a tenant that they think may or may not be coming, we can get into their space short term with an interesting entrepreneur, creative maker or retailer to animate the space,” he said.
For Market East, the spaces where popups will be placed are currently owned by Comcast and Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment.
There have been several development plans to revitalize Market East that were thwarted following controversy – a proposed 76ers arena on Market Street and a plan to demolish buildings on the 1000 block of Market Street among them.
This new popup initiative is one of many aimed at revitalizing Market East ahead of the America250 celebrations this summer.
“We had done a dozen ‘one-off’ storefronts in Fishtown, Northern Liberties and University City testing this idea, and I think Center City District probably noticed that, and invited Meantime to partner with them on creating six short-term businesses on the 900 block of Market Street,” Phillips said.
For Colas of Clubfriends Radio & Records, this will be a great way to connect visitors and Philadelphians this summer.
“I’m excited to meet people from all over the world and deepen connections here in Philly,” she said. “And music has always been my way of doing that. And now there’s even more people that I can share it with.”
The store is partnering with the Free Library of Philadelphia’s Music Department and Curator of Exhibitions to tell Philly stories and foster connection through music and design.
In addition to helping activate this area, Phillips said he hopes this is an opportunity to give some love to small businesses – and their potential to be successful in these kinds of situations.
“I think we focus a lot on how to do the ‘big business’ thing, but we don’t have a lot of tools for how to support small things,” he said.
The six pop-ups and their temporary addresses are:
- Two Persons Coffee is expanding from the Bok building to its second location, to be at 920 Market Street.
- Almost Famous at 922 Market Street. The Black-owned and female-centered business will offer upcycled clothing, vintage pieces, and live art, panel discussions and music events.
- Rarify will be at 924 Market Street.
- Clubfriends Radio & Records will be at 926 Market Street.
- Art Philly will be at 932-934 Market Street, serving as a creative exchange for artists, storytellers and community members with Jos Duncan-Asé’s Love Lab, an initiative from Love Now Media.
- Siddiq’s Water Ice will bring its West Philly treats to 938 Market Street.
The popups will begin running today, and continue through July 31st. An opening block party is scheduled for Thursday, May 7, from 5 to 8 p.m.
