A no messing around guide to the coolest things to eat, drink and do in Vancouver and beyond. Community. Not clickbait.

VANCOUVER WOULD BE COOLER IF #199: It Had An Index Of Short Rentals For Pop-Ups

(via) miLES is a group based out of the Lower East Side of Manhattan that aims to repurpose and temporarily lease out upwards of 200 vacant retails spaces for events and pop-up shops. In an interview with Fast Company, founder Eric Ho likened the service to “Zipcar or AirBnb for storefronts,” aiming to capture and commodify “the time between when they find the long-term tenant to occupy the space […] to bring back something valuable for the community.” With so many vacant retail spaces in Vancouver, it would be great to see more of them utilized as business incubators by local creatives and first-time entrepreneurs who aren’t quite ready for (or capable of affording) prime time. As regular readers are well aware, Vancouver certainly isn’t a stranger to the pop-up concept, but we see nowhere near as many as we could. We have the requisite diversity of people and product to fill a large number of the city’s vacant addresses. All that’s missing is a local service that functions similarly to miLES. So, someone, would you please…

OTHER CIVIC IMPROVEMENT SUGGESTIONS

There are 5 comments

  1. We NEED this! At an event held by the Laboratory of Housing Alternatives a few weeks ago we discussed a similar idea. We talked about creating a “temporary zoning” aid by an online platform so people can find vacant spaces.

  2. Well… here’s one for the eventual list. My studio in down-town Deep Cove is available for the month of August 2013. It’s a 730 sq.ft. street level, commercial space that gets a LOT of pedestrian traffic in the Summer. How do I get the word out?

The St. Patrick’s Day Collab Between The Irish Heather + Mello Has Our Name on It

If you're the sort to write off St. Patrick's Day celebrations due to stereotypical associations with the messy, rowdy, green-beer-binge-drinking brand of partying - not so fast!

We Can’t Get Enough of Nata’s Food-Inspired Candles

London-based makers of food-shaped candles, Nata, are dropping their new collection this week, on February 27th (tomorrow!) and they're even more decadent than ever...

Surrender to a Snow Day with This Big Bowl of Goodness

Hungry for in-doors activities to keep you amused during the coldest days of the winter season? This Tonkotsu Ramen 'little puzzle thing' seems like an apropos place to start.

We Want to Curl Up in Bed with This Cookbook (and a Good Meal, Obviously)

Dining well while comfortably tucked under the covers is all we want to do during the week-long post-holiday stretch, (at least) up until after the New Years dust has settled...Lo and behold: The Eating in Bed Cookbook.