Artisan Pop Up Grocery Store Debuts in Retail Space

Fresh baked Seaworth Breads, savory sweets from Built Pastries, freshly ground Backroom Roaster's coffee, and refreshing Charlotte & Olivia’s Sublime Ice Creams. These were the delights and vendors offered at the first “grocery-themed” Artisan Pop-Up in the new pop-up retail space on North High Street on Sunday, August 9, 2020.

The pop-up event is the first of many planned by The Gay Street Collaborative, creators of the Moonlight Market and Sunlight Market events. The Collaborative oversees the Pop Columbus program, which hopes to recruit independent retailers to rent space from one to two months in the pop-up retail space at 44 North High Street.

The goal of Pop Columbus is to help bridge the gap between pop-up retailers and full-time retailers, stimulate the Downtown retail economy, fill available retail vacancies, and help generate foot traffic for existing retail business.

Support and funding for Pop Columbus comes from the Capital Crossroads SID and The Columbus Foundation.

“We had originally planned to host an open house in the pop-up space in April. But when the pandemic hit, we cancelled the event,” said Walker Evans, organizer of The Gay Street Collaborative and the program coordinator for Pop Columbus.

“Even though COVID-19 is still with us, we decided to proceed cautiously by hosting a series of Artisan Pop-up Grocery Stores in our Downtown pop-up retail space to safely showcase amazing local businesses here in Central Ohio,” Evans said. “Each pop-up will have six to 10 vendors at a time.”

Eventually Evans hopes to look at other themes such as fashion, health, wellness, and holiday-themed events in the upcoming months.

Future installments of the Artisan Pop-Up Grocery Store will take place on September 13, October 11 and November 15. Interested vendors can email gaystreetcolumbus@gmail.com for registration details.