Downtown Uses Shipping Containers for Pop-Up Space

A Michigan city is combining three hot trends — recycled shipping containers, pop-up shops, and business incubators — to create an unusual destination designed to entice visitors to its downtown.

Battle Creek created BC Cargo, a mini-mall made up of seven shipping containers on a city-owned parking lot downtown. The blue-and-yellow containers are just 160 square feet each; the city provides heat, air conditioning, and electricity.

“We see it as an economic development strategy, and as a fun and exciting way to attract people to our downtown,” says Valerie Byrnes, Battle Creek’s business development and retention manager.

BC Cargo is a project of the city’s Small Business Development Fund. For the initial seven-month trial, BC Cargo charged tenants rent of just $1,645 for seven months, or $235 a month. The idea, Byrnes says, was to give entrepreneurs a low-cost way to test their business plans and to learn how the market would respond to their offerings.

The first crop of seven merchants included a coffee shop, a barbecue place, a vegetarian café, and several retail boutiques.

The city opens the spaces only to retail and restaurant uses. Prospective tenants must submit a business plan.

Battle Creek hopes that some of the pop-up retailers will graduate from containers to permanent space elsewhere in the city. In the meantime, Battle Creek cross-promotes the container mall with events such as its farmer’s market, Food Truck Fridays, and other downtown festivals.

More on BC Cargo and Muskegon, MI’s Western Market appears in the December issue of Downtown Idea Exchange. Click to learn more about Downtown Idea Exchange and other resources for revitalizing downtowns and commercial corridors.

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