Five collectives of local designers have set up pop-up shops in downtown Portland for the holiday season.

The collectives pay for utility use, but only a small rental fee as part of the Portland Business Alliance's pop-up shop program.

“It lets property owners and brokers activate vacant spaces during the busiest time of the year while also letting these local entrepreneurs sell their products in a high-traffic area,” said Cori Jacobs, Portland’s downtown retail advocate, a position funded jointly by the city of Portland and the PBA.

Four of the guilds will pack up shop in January, but [fashion collective] Flurry could remain in its pop-up space, in Fox Tower at the corner of Southwest Yamhill Street and Park Avenue. Kenneth Doswell, a representative of Flurry, this week will meet with the space’s owner, TMT Development, to discuss the possibility of the group signing a lease for the 6,000-square-foot space.

“With the winners of Project Runway and all the other notoriety, Portland has developed a great design core,” Doswell said. “But now we need to make designing viable here, and we can do that by opening up a retail store.”

Read more at the Daily Journal of Commerce.