Pop-up shops getting help from online tech

Michelle Enger |

Just your basic, average well-preserved and maintained historic shop front.
Just your basic, average well-preserved historic shop front.

Remember hearing about Milwaukee's version of pop-up shops? The specialty shops that appear for a day, a week, or sometimes longer? Well, San Francisco has a fondness for the concept, but now they've added a technological twist.

With hopes to help rejuvenate its downtown area, SQFT (square foot) plans to start with Market Street and continue to throughout the neighborhood.

SQFT partnered with the city as an accessible online format to connect entrepreneurs with cheap and temporary shop space. The site also has a rent calculator that estimates the amount of rent when space and time of use during a week are combined.

According to the SQFT web site, their goal is to “bolster existing business by increasing foot traffic, attract new business, create employment opportunities for local residents, and bring vibrancy into the area.”

With the current state of the economy, pop-up shops sound better and better to small scale entrepreneurs. Is the new online format of SQFT going to catch on nationwide?

Or more importantly, should something similar be developed in our little corner of Wisconsin?