Vendors temporarily fill vacant storefronts in Northern Liberties to encourage shopping local
By KYW Newsradio, November 26, 2020
Shopping local is more important than ever this holiday season, and Northern Liberties is making it easier for both shoppers and vendors.
The neighborhood is letting local businesses that don’t have a brick-and-mortar space to set up shop temporarily in a vacant store along North Second Street.
“We didn’t bring anybody in from out of town,” explained Northern Liberties Business Improvement District Executive Director Kristine Kennedy. “A lot of these businesses, they are already residents of the neighborhood who have already kind of started to organize a business and have been considering opening a storefront at some point.”
More than a dozen of these businesses will sell their goodies during the Northern Liberties Holiday Pop-Ups.
“We have an olive oil purveyor, a bridal wear company, a bread baker, an ornament maker,” Kennedy said of the participating vendors.
The pop-ups will neighbor permanent storefronts along the vibrant street.
All stores will offer hand sanitizer and will only allow a few people into each store at a time to maintain safety.
The pop-ups start on Black Friday and will run through the entire holiday weekend, as well as the first weekend in December, from 1 to 6 p.m.
“We never would have thought about doing an event on Black Friday before,” noted Kennedy, “but it seems like this would be the year with a lot of people staying local to really push shop local.”