Tiny Retail™

Tiny Retail™?     Centre Avenue Redevelopment & Design     2015 Tiny Retail™ ALPHA

.......................................................................       

Sensitive to the economic state of the community and its gradual development, the Hill CDC program, Hill Works, is positioned to activate empty storefronts, abandoned properties, and vacant lots in the Hill District. The program aims to make no- and low-cost temporary space, training, and technical assistance available to small businesses, e.g., artists, creative entrepreneurs, organizations, and community groups, in order to nurture successful projects that transform the Hill District into a stronger, more commercially-active neighborhood.  

Tiny Retail™

In response to the vacant lots lining Centre Avenue's main business district, the Hill CDC plans to develop clusters of Tiny Retail™ along the corridor to augment and support economic development in the Hill District.

Tiny Retail™ is a functional and economic concept, similar to Tiny Houses (small-scale dwellings built to abate financial and environmental concerns), yet with an application directed for the retail market. Built primarily as portable structures, Tiny Retail™ will have the ability to respond to the varying needs throughout the Hill District, and Anchor & Activate the diverse commercial corridors - Centre, Wylie, Webster, Bedford, and Herron Avenues.

The Hill CDC intends to nurture a collaborative environment with diverse stakeholders  through a design-build-barter project delivery to further the Tiny Retail™ initaitive. The project delivery approach of design-build-barter extends beyond construction, allowing community stakeholders to contribute to the design-thinking (design), place-making (build), and socio-economic programming (barter) of the Tiny Retail™ initiative. 

Tiny Retail™ presents a rare opportunity to

i) grow small businesses,

ii) support innovative business models,

iii) demonstrate possible development typologies,

iv) capture existing markets, and

v) capitalize on existing assets. 

Tiny Retail™ ALPHA

 

Tiny Retail™ ALPHA (2015 August - November) is intended for exploration and testing. This is vital to raise project awareness, build capacity, develop retailer relations, identify management strategies and the optimal ownership structure, and aggregate project results to ultimately position Tiny Retail™ for the Hill District, in general.

Tiny Retail™ ALPHA has three distinct objectives:

1.    BRANDING

Establish the Hill District identity and character…

Understand the stakeholder, i.e., the retailer-consumer interaction, civic engagement and community-participation, through design-thinking

2.    PHYSICAL “SPACE”

Establish a presence on the corridor…

Implement tangible initiatives and interim strategies through place-making

3.     PROMOTION

Establish social stability…

Reinforce community and culture through socio-economic programming

 

...................................................

Under Construction

 

August on The Ave

 

...................................................

 

Here's what you're missing during the soft launch of Tiny Retail™:

Find out more about the soft launch during the special event, August on The Ave at hilldistrict.org/augustave.

 

Tiny Retail™ BETA

Pipelined for 2016-2017

Tiny Retail™ BETA will use the findings from ALPHA to offer non-traditional methodologies with traditional applications. This will culminate in a more dense retail environment with several structures and an embedded interaction of retailers. Tiny Retail™ BETA will be positioned as retail incubation focused highly on specific retailer-consumer exchanges, which will position tiny retail development for long-term investment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Collaborators and Partners: