Putting pop-up into the community
By Steve Mullins. Market mix. Brixton is really getting into the spirit of pop-up. Earlier this month, we explained how Ogilvy went to this colourful part of South London to set up shop and hand out free advice to local businesses. Now we can let you know that the agency’s store was just one of a score of shopfronts doing good pop-up service in Brixton Village - aka Granville Arcade, a 1930s market hall.
Tenants – among them retailer and artists – began moving into the Arcade at the tail-end of last year on free three-month leases – either to test-trade their wares, or to entertain – among them the Brixton Cornercopia corner food store, the Remade in Brixton Work-Shop for local reuse, repair and recycling, the OKIDO doodle shop for kids, and HERD, a design studio for young creatives.
Right now, among others, there’s a coffee shop called Federation run by Kiwis – how come all these London Antipodeans can make such good coffee? – and the smallest cinema in Brixton from the Artinavan// collective.
And there has been a regular roll call of pop-up events to increase footfall to Brixton Village. Last Saturday was Mellow Madness Day featuring acoustic music sets and soulful singers. And the arcade has already hosted Feb’s Got Flavour day where food fare was served, and a bunch of foodie bloggers showed off their cuisine.
“Brixton Village is a combination of arts, new businesses and community,” says Katrina Damianou, socialpreneur at Space Makers Agency, the outfit behind the project. “When we put out a call for tenants we got more than 100 applications… We were looking primarily for people based in Brixton. It’s important to drive the local aspect.
“This is about how to bring more people to the market and revive it. Art and performances do a lot to get people here and keep them entertained. And that’s what we want to do on a weekly basis.
“What’s great is that Brixton Village also increases footfall to existing, long-standing traders.”
Damianou says the local council, Lambeth, has asked Space Makers to look into doing similar projects in the area. But that doesn’t mean everywhere will get something akin to Brixton Village.
“Every area is unique so can’t simply reproduce this,” she says. “There’s no single formula to it.”
But there is a Brixton Village video right here.
