‘Liverpool Pops-up for Christmas’ is to run from November 15 to December 24 with shops and stalls located throughout the retail heart of the city centre.
Promoted by Liverpool’s own ‘queen of pop-up’ Kate Stewart, who founded made-here, the website and pop-up shop that supports local artists and designers, the festival has the backing of key players including the Mayor Joe Anderson, Liverpool Vision, City Centre Councillor Nick Small, Academy ONE, City Central BID and landlords including Clayton Square and Metquarter.
The project also involves partnerships with Liverpool Community College, Liverpool John Moore’s University and Liverpool Community College which will see made-here working with their graduates and under-graduates to offer mentoring and a retail outlet for their work.
made-here founder Kate Stewart said: “The festival is an exciting project which not only shows Liverpool and its commercial landlords to be working together in a dynamic way to regenerate our city, but which offers a vital first step for many small businesses in our city. These Pop-ups will provide Christmas shoppers with a more diverse offering from local businesses, with benefits to existing tenants and landlords including increased footfall to our shopping centres and making vacant spaces more desirable to prospective tenants.”
Councillor Nick Small, Liverpool City Council cabinet member for employment, enterprise and skills, said: “This is a really imaginative project. Not only will it provide Christmas shoppers with more choice but help budding entrepreneurs start up businesses and reduce the number of empty shops in the city centre. So make sure you pop into these shops during the Festive Season.”
The festival will include a pop-up department store on the first floor of Clayton Square, which will offer gifts, photography, cards, fashion, and shops by Laura’s Little Bakery, dot-art and we walk as well as the made-here pop-up shop. There will also be various events and shorter pop-ups in other venues including Metquarter.
Ged Gibbons, Chief Executive of City Central BID, said: ”Liverpool city centre has a fabulously diverse shopping offer and this pop-up festival will greatly enhance our high street appeal this Christmas. Crucially it will also provide much needed training and jobs in our retail sector and by generating interest in the long term future of the vacant units it’s an idea that could be bearing gifts for many Christmases to come.”
Liverpool Pops-up for Christmas will also run alongside the city’s Christmas Market which runs from November 22 to December 22 in Church Street, Lord Street and Whitechapel.
Pictured are Kate Stewart and Councillor Small at the made-here shop.
