Stop15 Pop Up—A Creative’s Retail Haven

By Sophie Coleman / February 9th, 2012 in Talks / Melbourne / 234 views

It’s every budding store-owner, designer or performer’s dream—their own retail space to test out their business schemes sans a long-term commitment or huge rent (and on Melbourne’s bustling Gertrude St in the super hip Fitzroy precinct to boot). Stop15 Pop Up is a new pop-up shop initiative that launched earlier this week courtesy of Frederick Gugenberg, a Melbourne store-owner who is enabling young retailers to lease the space from him on a monthly basis in 2012.

This video, produced by Dan Murphy, is a candid conversation with colorful and endearing menswear designer Gugenberg, who says the concept came about after he decided to take long service leave but didn’t want to sell his space, his self-described “window into the world”. As he explains, the store aims to benefit the community and struggling artists, rather than established business owners—”I want it to be a space where people can explore…try out different things”.

Evidently there’s not only a ripe creative scene in Melbourne but strong demand for such a scheme—after putting the sign up calling for Stop15 pop up submissions on 31st December 2011, Gugenberg said the spaces for the year were all filled just nine days later. The pop-up spaces will be a varied mix of fashion, lifestyle, food and live performance concepts in 2012; including a lingerie/corsetry shop, a performance artist, soup kitchen, retro furniture and bric-a-brac store, Turkish coffee house, international designer showroom. Gugenberg will also ‘pop in’ himself with his designer label.

In the current economic climate, it’s a noble and innovative idea from the Melbournian and we can’t wait to see how it plays out. If you’re in Melbourne, head to 249A Gertrude St to check it out, otherwise keep up with the latest news in Murphy’s ongoing video series and on the Stop15 Tumblr, where the ‘Pop-up-ees’ will be blogging about their experiences.