Definitely not ideal.
Bathroom fixtures can be moved, walls can be cleaned and floors can be scrubbed, Kincses and Richardson say, especially when you consider what is at stake.
There is exposure to new customers, and maybe a long-term lease proposition for their store called "Gifted."
"Our goal is to have a permanent spot somewhere for people who want to buy our items year-round," Kincses says. "While we all have adecent following, shoppers can only find us at weekend craft fairs."
This is the third year of the downtown holiday pop-up shop program that makes use of empty retail spaces. Several temporary leases on South Michigan Street in downtown South Bend have been signed, and these stores must open on Friday.
"The pop-up shops allow tenants a chance to truly test-drive the location and see if there is a market for their products," says Tamara Nicholl-Smith, downtown business development director for South Bend.
"Many have fantasized about owning their own store. The pop-up shop program lets them see if the reality matches the picture they had in their head," she says.
The program has resulted in long-term commitments from Imagine That and Made in Michiana. Both are now downtown merchants.
Kincses and Richardson will feature the handmade jewelry sold through their business, Two and a Half Sisters, and the wares of several other area small businesses, crafters and vendors. Gifted will offer jewelry, wood crafts, knitted hats, gemstone bonsai trees, mosaics and recycled fiberwork.
Merchandise will not be a problem. But Gifted and all the pop-up stores have only about 10 days to set up for 10 weeks of holiday sales.
That's really not much time, considering it generally takes a traditional retailer three months to renovate and transform an empty building into a store filled with merchandise.
And these are small independent business owners, who do not have a parent company financing their short-term endeavor.
"We can't take the pop-up lease expecting any updates or cosmetic improvements," Kincses says, while looking around their space at Center City, located in the 200 block of South Michigan Street in the former Aunt Karen's restaurant.
In addition to the obvious (the bathroom fixtures had to be removed first), Kincses, Richardson and the other crafters have been dusting, sweeping and painting.
"We work with what we have, because whatever we want to do is at our own expense," Kincses adds. "We're hoping it is successful enough for us to stay in the downtown area."
Pop-up merchants have to pay for their own insurance, order inventory, get a Web page or Facebook page up and running, and obtain a phone number as well as a credit card and point of sales system -- in addition to the cosmetic storefront work.
"They typically put in many 12-hour days working hard to meet the grand opening deadline," Nicholl-Smith says. "For some (the hardest part) is inventory. For others, if they are making improvements to the space, it is getting that done.
