Madison Reporter

One day remains for historically marginalized businesses to sign up for the City of Madison's yearlong lease program in two downtown storefronts.

Applications are due Thursday, Aug. 12 for vendors who want to participate in the city’s “Pop-Up Shop Pilot Program," a collaboration between the city, JD McCormick Properties, Hmong Wisconsin Chamber of Commerce, Latino Chamber of Commerce of Dane County and Madison Black Chamber of Commerce. The program aims to provide opportunities to historically underrepresented businesses to set up temporary pop-up retail space on the first floor of existing properties on 440 and 444 State Street.

Vendors selected for the program will be announced Aug. 26 and the popup shops may open over Labor Day weekend. Selected vendors' leasing fees will be based on a sliding scale determined by such as income and other factors.

Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway announced the program in May and followed up with a Twitter post Monday, Aug. 9.

"The city looks forward to welcoming pop-up shops on State Street soon," Rhodes-Conway said in her Twitter post.

The city always has its eye open for opportunities on State Street, Office of Business Resources Manager Saran Ouk told Madison 365.

"We always want to create opportunities for people who normally don’t have these types of opportunities, especially for State Street, making the State Street more diverse," Ouk said. "We know that even though it’s temporary, we can still showcase small businesses wherever they decide to go. If they do want to stay on State Street, great. They could hopefully open up a business here or anywhere else in Madison. Our goal is to help establish these businesses, get them up and running, create awareness for their businesses and then just help them launch anywhere in the city."