DTLA Is Encouraging More Retail Pop-Ups

Downtown Los Angeles is looking to attract more retail pop-up experiences to the market. Retail is one of the most robust asset classes in the Downtown market, and it led the submarket’s growth in the first quarter of the year. Now, the Downtown Central Business Improvement District is focusing on fueling more growth in the sector. It is rolling out a new initiative called Pop-up Connect to pair landlords with vacant spaces and retailers looking for pop-up space.

“We are going to be rolling out a program called Pop-up Connect, and it is essentially a pop-up service between vacancy retail spaces and pop-up businesses, whether they are a start-up business or an established brand that wants to do a temporary store,” Nick Griffin, SVP of economic development at the DCBID, tells GlobeSt.com. “We are creating a database of these spaces on our website, and we are promoting that list out to the retail community and the brand community. Then, we are helping to connect them to those people.”

Although the DCBID is encouraging more pop-up experiences, it also understands that temporary lease terms may not be right for all retail owners. For property owners that have vacant space but are not open to a pop-up retail lease, the DCBID is designing store-front window advertisements to increase leasing activity. “We have another program that will go hand in hand with it called Storefront Billboards for retail owners that don’t want to do a full-blown pop-up,” says Griffin. “We will do a creatively designed full window display with the Make It Yours branding and the leasing information to beautify the space and activate it. Plus, it promotes the Downtown retail market in general.”

Pop-up Connect isn’t the only retail initiative the DCBID is planning to fuel more retail growth. It is also looking to enhance the shopping experience for consumers with a new app. “Retail is one of the key things that we are focused on. On the retail front, we have two related projects,” Griffin explains. “We have the Make It Yours Club, which we launched earlier this year and has been hugely successful. That is an SMS-based retail loyalty program. We send out and offer or giveaway about a Downtown business once a week. We now have 3,500 members of that club, and it is growing by hundreds every week. People are really interested in what is going on downtown, and to get some cool downtown offers.”

Retail and office will be the organization’s focus areas this year—because they are really seen as the supporting sectors to the already robust residential market. “Being on the forefront of how office buildings are reinventing themselves or how retail is reinventing itself all makes a lot of sense, and it becomes one of the great attractors of downtown,” says Griffin.