Holiday Pop Up Shop
featuring over 30 Local Artists
I have always been enthralled with overarching encapsulating retail experiences as well as a deep love for the arts, artists, and craftsmanship. October 2020 I was able to curate my own space and bring those two passions together.
I was lucky enough to grow up in one of America’s first artist colonies. Garnering attention from painters across the country, they came to Nashville to paint the sprawling vistas and rural countryside. Nashville grew as a craft and artisan hot spot and started to receive more and more visitors each year who would come to see both the arts and sprawling woods and countryside that accompanied the midwest village. No doubt this rich history helped shape my upbringing and appreciation for the arts and hand craftsmanship.
With the help of my family and some willing friends, I transformed the dark and dated space into a bright airy gallery-like space including custom hand built fixturing. I jumped head first into the project with less than 3 weeks to put everything together. I started the project on September 15 and opened the doors to the pop up shop on October 1st, 2020. The design and interior needed to be simple and installation needed to be quick and easy.
When finalizing everything for the shop for the opening, I quickly realized that like art, I was never going to truly be “finished” and was better to just keep moving forward rather than scrutinize every detail. The shop was a work in progress that I could continually change as the doors were open, that’s exactly what I did.
I started with about 15 confirmed artists. Throughout the life of the shop, I grew to over 30 contributing artists. To reduce overhead costs the artists participated on a consignment model to which I took a commission cut on all sales and they received a bi-weekly payout. I encouraged artists to continue to send or bring in inventory in order to keep things fresh and replenish previous weeks sales.
I received an overwhelming amount of support and positive feedback from patrons and the community. I received comments about how this is what was missing from the community, thanking me for putting this together, and asking me to keep the pop up shop going. The support and encouragement was infectious and although I was tempted to keep the shop going, I followed my plan on closing the shop after the peak holiday season.
Overall the pop up shop was a success through both the reaction and support from the community and as a personal learning experience. I was able to use 100% of my retail, merchandising, visual display, buying, and artistic skills I had accumulated over almost a decade of working in the retail industry. It was a project that I solely produced from conception to execution and was completely responsible for in every aspect. I have never before had that type of freedom and responsibility before, it was both exciting and nerve racking.
In the future I plan to take my learnings and do more seasonal pop up shops and markets. I want to showcase more queer, POC, and younger underrepresented artists. I hope to expand to new territories and keep exploring new and unique retail experiences.
Holiday
Pop-Up Shop
Ee Oh Lay Pop Up Shop ran from October 2020 - January 2020, and had an overwhelming show of support from tourists and locals alike. Despite being during another peak surge of COVID in the midwest and Indiana, guests filled the shop for holiday shopping.
CREATIVE PROCESS
& EXECUTION
Ee Oh Lay was a project that I was solely responsible for, from inception to execution. I was able to put into motion some ideas I've had for a while and exercise some creativity, everything from logo design, store layout, fixture design, construction, decorating, and even screen printing.
Curating an assortment
In a world of mass production and Prime delivery, I wanted to fill the space with handmade and unique crafts from real artists. I was able to curate an amazing assortment with colorful, unique, creative expressions from friends, local artists, and family.
DEFINING A SPACE
Although the shop location was ideal, the building needed a lot of work. With the help of friends and family I was able to completely transform the space. Looking back, the first couple of days were primitive at best, but it was a space that allowed me to grow into. With the open concept floor plan I was continually able to move things around as items sold and new inventory arrived.
key takeaways & learnings
Creating and bringing to life the pop up shop was a success in many ways. I was able to showcase other artists in a unique and exciting setting. I utilized my decade long experience of the retail environment to create and execute a plan. And most importantly I learned so much about managing myself and my own business.
