Holiday Pop-Up Shops open in Downtown Colorado Springs

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO)-- Holiday Pop-Up Shops are now open in Downtown Colorado Springs as of Wednesday. For the past seven years, the Downtown Development Authority has allowed local businesses to apply to open their own brick and mortar store.

This year features three new shops including Mountain Standard Goods, Maggie M Boutique, and Good Eye.

The owners of Mountain Standard Goods call it a dream come true.

"It’s been a wild ride. It was pretty swiftly put together, so we just had a small amount of time to get everything merchandised, find fixtures, and order product," said Hannah Gingrich, co-owner of Mountain Standard Goods.

Hannah Gingrich runs Mountain Standard goods with her sister. For the past four years, they've had a booth at an antique mall as well as selling online. They offer items for men from across the Rocky Mountain region, including vintage items.

"The idea spawned from when I worked retail downtown many years ago. Just from customer requests, asking if there were any men's gift stores or apparel stores, so that idea was planted then. Over the last year, my sister and I have been streaming up ideas and decided that right now is the go time with how much downtown is growing," said Gingrich.

Gingrich says they kept the Holiday Pop-Up Shop program on their radar and decided to pull the trigger this year.

"The whole concept is to allow entrepreneurs the opportunity to try a brick and mortar store with a smaller cost investment up front in terms of their lease and shorter time period so they can truly figure out if this is something they want to do," said Laurel Prud'homme with Downtown Colorado Springs.

The shops help bring people downtown, fill storefronts, and let entrepreneurs figure out their next move.

"We’ve seen a lot of success with the program both people who said 'oh my gosh this is not what I want to do' as well as businesses who really embraced it, decided to sign long term leases and are still here today," said Prud'homme.

There is a grand opening for all the stores on Saturday. They'll be open through December 31st.

For more information, you can visit this website.