What began as an idea has transformed into a reality.
Pop-up stores, a trend that began in the United Kingdom and eventually made its way to the U.S., are now showing up in downtown Eugene.
Cheep, located on 13th Avenue and Willamette Street, is the first pop-up store in Eugene. Creator Mitra Chester opened the store three weeks ago, and Chester’s intern, Catalina Urrutia, manages the store.
Urrutia, an art student at Lane Community College, originally had an art show at Kitsch fashion store in downtown Eugene. Now, Urrutia manages the store and has two helpers, who have both attended Lane Community College.
“I think Catalina is perfect. She’s just got a really great creative mind-set, and I think it’s really easy to translate that over to business and the structure of business, making business work and happen and run,” Chester said. “I think it’s almost better to have a creative mind-set than a business degree, because then you’re taught this is the way that it’s done, and you don’t get to see that there’s more than one way to do things.”
During an economic recession, prospective owners may find it difficult and even intimidating to open a small business. Pop-up stores give interested retailers the opportunity to experiment and bring new and unique ideas to fruition. Landlords rent out otherwise vacated property to retailers for a temporary period of time. The space that Cheep is in used to be a jewelry store.
Eugene community events manager Billie Moser came to Chester with the idea of a pop-up store after members from the city of Eugene visited Portland and saw all of the pop-up stores thriving in Portland.
As a pop-up store, Cheep is first and foremost an experiment.
“We’re kind of just making it up as we go, which is kind of fun,” Chester said.
Cheep sells resale art, women’s clothes, men’s clothes, children’s clothes, jewelry, shoes, purses and art that originate from the back rooms of downtown fashion shops Deluxe and Kitsch, which Chester also owns with her husband, Aaron. All items in the store cost one to five dollars, and toward the end of Cheep’s closure, everything will be sold for one dollar. Used items are also sold for one dollar every Saturday.
“There’s some pretty eccentric stuff in here. There’s also some very nice pieces of clothing; when worn correctly they could be beautiful,” Urrutia said. “Everything in itself is kind of quirky and odd.”
Cheep has been intriguing to landlords and customers alike. Many people have never heard of pop-up stores before visiting Cheep.
“I hope it’s taken as an example for people to feel confident in moving forward with fun, creative projects and applying creativity to business,” Chester said.
Urrutia has enjoyed her experience at Cheep.
“It’s a great opportunity that Mitra gave me, and I’m really appreciative of the experience,” she said.
Chester is working with Eugene community development manager Mike Sullivan to find someone to create and run a pop-up store in the old Taco Time building downtown.
Cheep will be open until December 31 and will then be replaced by a coffee shop.
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