Pop-Up Stores: Bringing New Life to Downtown Mansfield

By Matt Donnelly
Candidate, Mansfield Board of Selectman

I believe in Mansfield. I love the people. I love the sense of community. My family chose to move here in 2013.

But what I don't like to see are the empty storefronts in downtown. It doesn't have to be that way. The potential is there. Ask anyone in town, and they'll tell you they're rooting for a downtown revival.

So why hasn't it happened? We've had surveys. We've hired consultants over past few decades who've written reports. (I've seen the stacks of yellowing paper myself.) But yet downtown Mansfield continues to struggle.

I believe that new thinking is needed, and it's one of the reasons I decided to run for Selectman.

I spoke with voters, and together we wondered: Is there a way to bring new businesses to downtown, revitalizing the area, and...do it without raising taxes?

Yes. It's the pop-up store. This is a deceptively simple concept: Take a new business (or even an existing business that exists in another town and is looking to expand) and give them a short-term lease to set up shop in one of our empty storefronts downtown. (The image for this article is from a pop-up store in London back in 2009.)

These stores will draw people and spending downtown, drive traffic to neighboring businesses, let new businesses test ideas with little risk, increase property values, and even spark more interest in the Fales Park and the bike path. It's the kind of idea that my campaign is all about: taking action to make Mansfield a better place.

But wait a minute, you ask. How do we pay for it? Landlords aren't in the business of giving away free rent.

That's the point. We don't pay for it. Sponsors do, in exchange for free advertising. A local business gets free rent for three months, the landlord gets income instead of an empty storefront, and the town gets a great "shop local" experience -- all without raising taxes. Everyone wins.

But would this actually work? Think for a moment about the banks, law firms and insurance companies that advertise around town already. Would they be willing to advertise in this way too? I think so. And they win because pop-up stores can always become permanent stores that need loans, insurance and legal representation. It's also an opportunity for these pillars of the local economy to continue to do good for the community that supports them.

And it's an idea that's been tried successfully elsewhere. For example, in the smaller town of Baraboo, Wisconsin (population 12,000), "[s]uccessful applicants will get support from advisers who are sponsoring the project. These include the lead sponsor – the law firm of Cross, Jenks, Mercer and Maffei – as well as Baraboo National Bank, Community First Bank and MBE CPAs."

Pop-up stores are also part of economic development plans in bigger cities like Cincinnati, Raleigh and Duluth.

Working together, we can pilot innovative new ideas like pop-up stores to make Mansfield more amazing. If you agree we need more action, more collaboration and more innovation in Mansfield, I respectfully ask for your vote on November 14.