| Updated: 11/30/2011 10:09 pm |
Published: 11/30/2011 9:41 pm
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Pop up shopping has opened in downtown Tulsa. 10 stores have set up in vacant downtown storefronts for a limited-time run offer stuff for Santa to place under the tree, and those stores are also hoping to give retail a fighting chance in the heart of our city.
Some might think it's a brand new idea.
“I am in my 20s, and I've never seen stuff like this downtown,” Chelsea McGuire told FOX23.
But for others, it feels like something from years past.
“There will be music. Santa Claus will be over there. You can take pictures with your kids. you know kind of give you that feeling it used to be downtown,” Libby Auld, who came up with the idea for pop up shopping in the Deco District, said.
“There are a lot of people who remember when they were kids coming to shop downtown,” said The Indie Emporium shop owner Tom Crowe.
This woman used to work downtown when retail was on every corner.
“I had heard about the shops here and wanted to come see them,” Louise Boucher said.
She found books, candy, and other odds and ends all for sale for a limited time only.
For shop owners like Crowe who took a chance, “the sales are picking up, they are definitely. Today has been great.”
This is the first Winter Wednesday, the kick off for the pop up shops with carolers, Santa for the kids, and a twinkling streetscape right out of a classic Christmas card.
“The storefronts like they used to be in like the 60s and 70s. It definitely gets me in the holiday spirit,” McGuire said.
“The architectural downtown, the memories, it's just revised though, so it's a warm feeling,” Boucher told FOX23.
It's also the feeling that this could be what spurs permanent close knit downtown retail
“It's an amazing opportunity for retailers to get down here, and I think it's an opportunity for Tulsans to see what downtown could be like,” Crowe said.
“I definitely think it's something that could be sustainable,” McGuire said.
The pop up shops in the Deco District are open everyday but Sunday, but soon they'll have to pop down. They'll close on December 30th.
