Photo: Allison Yee/Up Next
NEWTON, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — A Massachusetts-based organization is giving local creators a chance to improve their visibility.
Up Next is a company that specializes in giving local businesses a leg up in getting their products to more people.
The company works to find pop-up locations for businesses around Greater Boston through municipal partnerships to make the rent more affordable..
They provide tools and resources to be successful through The Retail Playground, an online community run by Up Next.
With the help of their grant-funded initiative Project Pop-Up, Up Next also works with municipalities to bring down costs and take off some of the business pressures from the artists so they can focus on the creation process of their products.
“Reinvesting in our own neighbors, in these local shops and supporting these local entrepreneurs really makes the world go round. It helps our economy thrive; it brings dollars back into the community in a way that it just simply doesn’t work when you’re shop online,” Allison Yee, founder and CEO of Up Next said. “Every pop-up experience is completely different,” Yee said. “The brands are given a blank space that is a canvas that they can infuse with their own vibe, their own personality, their own products, their own branding.”
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Currently, they are supporting numerous businesses with the Project Pop-Up locations across the state, with locations in Medford, Gloucester, Brookline, and Boston to name a few.
One of these spots for rotating shops is opening in Lowell in the next few days.
“With all this entrepreneurial energy and traction, we partnered up and were able to secure grant funding through the city of Lowell, as well as Mosaic Lowell, which is an arts and culture programming location, to create the Dutton Street Market,” Yee said.
Dutton Market will be open next Friday and will stay open through December. There will also be a a ribbon cutting for their pop-up location tomorrow.
More information about Up Next and their pop ups can be found here.
WBZ NewsRadio’s Emma Friedman (@EmmaFriedmanWBZ) reports.