A free month of rent for a prime retail space in the heart of South Norwalk is only a contest entry away.
AGW SONO Partners, a real estate collective that manages 27 properties on Washington Street, the center of SoNo’s nightlife, has announced a contest to open a pop-up shop in one of their three vacant retail spaces.
The space at 132A Washington St. is 700 square feet on the southern side of the street between Affogato coffee bar and Appetite Bistro. Businesses interested in taking advantage of the opportunity will need to pitch their idea to AGW SONO Partners and their marketing operation OnWashington by March 25, followed by interviews the week of March 28. There is no fee to apply for the competition and the submission form can be found online at https://bit.ly/3KHQs7I.
The winner will be announced April 4 and will need to be ready to move in prior to June 1.
The winner of last year’s contest, Brad “Eco Dude” Kerner, turned his pop-up space into a five-year lease for Eco Evolution, a one-stop shop for ecologically friendly home goods, antiques and, in the near future, coffee. Kerner credited the contest with giving him the chance to explore his entrepreneurial impulses and convert his popular Instagram page into a brick-and-mortar business.
“We had tremendous success with it last year,” said Linda Kavanagh, the director of OnWashington. “We had so many people entering and obviously we were really lucky to end up with Brad staying and signing a lease.”
Kavanagh described the space as one of the smaller ones in the AGW portfolio, with a long and narrow layout that may not be ideal for every business. Still, she felt an entrepreneur with an idea may want to try out their concept in this pop-up setting.
“It’s amazing how much some of these entrepreneurs can get done with just that one month,” she said. “What it really gives them is an opportunity.”
Artist co-ops, antiques dealers and a wide range of different retail businesses applied for the pop-up location in last year’s contest, according to Kavanagh, but while that is perhaps the most obvious way to utilize the space, she encouraged anybody with an idea to enter.
“You know we can never have enough food and beverage items on the block,” Kavanagh said. “But it could be used as a shared office space. A coworking space concept would be terrific too.”
While the overall quality of the idea is the single most important consideration in the judging according to Kavanagh, they want applicants to have the ability to take complete advantage of the opportunity. OnWashington will work with the winners in getting established, but the entrepreneurs will be expected to help with promotion and publicity ”” it is their own business, after all.
Kavanagh stated the judges hope to find somebody who will fit the neighborhood, not just as a business owner, but as a community member.
“The perfect fit is someone who’s going to embrace the neighborhood, someone who is motivated and can market themselves,” Kavanagh said. “It’s not ‘Field of Dreams.’ You don’t just put your business there and they’re going to come. You really do need to be able to promote it as well.”
