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New shop 'pops up' in Syracuse... literally

Ellen Abbott
/
WRVO News
Julia Haber, a student at Syracuse University, stands in front of a pop-up shop in Marshall Square Mall on the SU hill

Syracuse has its first pop-up shop. The space is the result of an AT&T-sponsored competition for student entrepreneurs at Syracuse University.

An empty contained glass space near the front of Marshall Square Mall has become home to this pop-up shop thanks to Julia Haber, a sophomore public relations student at SU.

"A pop-up shop is a space that is occupied by individuals for a certain amount of time that comes and goes and kind of can be whatever it wants to be at the moment, said Haber."
 

Credit Ellen Abbott / WRVO News
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WRVO News
Gregory Tobias stands in front of a T-shirt line he created, which is featured in a pop-up shop in Syracuse

T-shirts and caps with a savage animal theme will be the first products test marketed in this pop-up shop, part of a clothing line called Savage, designed by SU grad Gregory Tobias.  

"I know a good amount of people, but we have so much traffic coming through here, it’ll allow us to get our name out to people who’ve never seen us before," said Tobias.

This particular pop up will also be a place where students can sell more than a product, but an idea. That’s what Rohan Thakore and Ryn Adkins will do with their student start up called Roux, that focuses on bringing food from local farms to students.

"We’re gonna have CSA bags, where people can come in and buy fresh produce that we select," said Thakore.

 
"We’re going to highlight Early Morning Farms, and Greyrock Farms in Cazenovia, so we can show students that they can source awesome local food within a 15 minute distance," added Adkins.

Pop-up shops like this have been around in other urban areas since the 1990s. Haber says social media have made the three-week stays at the hub more doable than ever.

“We have a Facebook page that’s continuously running. We update students with what’s going on, We tweet, we Snapchat, so we’re very up to date on social media," she said. "This couldn’t have been done without social media, I don’t think flyers under the door would have necessarily worked."

Ellen produces news reports and features related to events that occur in the greater Syracuse area and throughout Onondaga County. Her reports are heard regularly in regional updates in Morning Edition and All Things Considered.