Around the same time, The Parks Chamber of Commerce and the City of Loves Park were developing strategies to encourage small business growth in Riverside Commons. Our team knew that many entrepreneurs often have trouble getting their businesses off the ground due to high starting costs and rents. That’s when we landed on pop-up retail, specifically shipping containers, as a way to spur economic activity at Riverside Commons. Across the country, retrofitting shipping containers into markets and malls has offered small businesses the opportunity to set up and test their ideas in a small space with lower costs. This kind of innovative retail space has the potential to catalyze economic development, and event lead to more permanent commercial development in the future.

After publishing the Riverside Commons Blueprint, which identified the area along Riverside Boulevard as a potential site for pop-up retail, the City worked with Lino’s and several stakeholders in the area to plan a pilot shipping container market, the Box Market. This shipping container market, features 4-6 local vendors and food stalls, a public play area, and live music.