Economic restructuring, or fostering the growth of new businesses, is high on the priority list for Katie Meyer, Covington’s 29-year-old Renaissance manager.
Three years into a job in the town where she grew up, Meyer sees signs of success in the 15 new businesses that have opened in the city since January—retail and restaurant and gallery spaces that have taken up once-vacant spots.
She’s the force behind
“Make Covington Pop,” a community effort to support new small businesses and build excitement around the city by creating pop-up shops, or temporary business and event spaces, in unoccupied storefronts.
The initiative launched last Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) with the opening of two pop-ups on Pike Street—one bookstore/coffee shop and one vintage clothing operation that has since evolved into
District 78.
This week, Make Covington Pop hosts
“Big Talk Small Talk, a Syposium on Pop-Up Shops and Urban Vitality,” in an effort to keep the momentum going. The power of the pop-up, according to one guest speaker, is in its ability to build community.
“You start turning places into destinations,” says Griffin VanMeter a Kick Ass Kentuckian of
Kentucky for Kentucky, based out of Lexington. “You get people experiencing culture together. Kentucky for Kentucky has been successful at that. We get our fans and supporters to come out, and they see things they wouldn’t already see.”
Joining VanMeter in Covington this week are Lisa Frisch of the Portland (Oregon) Business Alliance, who has supported a range of pop-ups in Portland since 2009; and Michael Forsythe of Detroit’s pop-up initiative,
RevolveDetroit.
Though the number of vacant storefronts in Covington has declined this year, Meyer can point to several spaces nearly move-in ready and others that need a boost from building owners to make them appealing investments for budding entrepreneurs.
The symposium offers information designed to engage property owners as well as potential business owners, Meyer says. If entrepreneurs get a healthy start in Covington, they may, like District 78, decide to make a more permanent investment and stay.
“We do want to do another round of pop up shops this fall,” Meyer says. “It’s all about continuing the movement.”
Interested in finding out more about "Make Covington Pop"? Find the group on
Facebook or
register for this week’s symposium.
By Elissa Yancey
Follow Elissa on Twitter.
Photos of a recent pop-up event in Lexington hosted by Kentucky for Kentucky: The Mounting of the Colonel, a celebration of the installation of a Colonel Sanders weather vane on a newly restored event space. Photos by Frank Döring.
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