(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…
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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.
Fantastic idea!
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?
I would probably throw about 4 shows a year if short term rental space was available.
We can help with that. Drop me a line: bill (a) spacelist.ca