Dec. 13, 2019

The marketplace in the Jones421 Building is hosting pop-up shops for the holiday season in a vacant tenant space.

The weekend pop-ups, which feature different businesses, started before Thanksgiving and will continue until Christmas.

The shops are open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

This week, Wake by Tyler Blake and Unique Boutique are selling merchandise in the former Game Chest space of the mixed-use building at 421 N. Phillips Ave.

Tyler Blake Weathersby and MonaLisa Perez started Wake in October 2018. They began by reselling sunglasses and accessories on e-commerce platforms, which gave them the funds to build their business, Weathersby said.

“Wake is a streetwear clothing brand based around self-love and self-awareness,” he said. “That’s our goal, to spread that message and to create pieces that have that.”

The majority of their sales are through Wake’s website, theyself.co.

“It’s very rare that we do pop-up shops,” Weathersby said. “We try to keep that exclusivity behind our clothing. We do bring a designer feel with our clothing.”

The couple start with manufactured garments and style them. “Everything is cut and sewn and designed by us,” he said.

The majority of Unique Boutique’s merchandise also is custom.

Renee Fick of Brandon started the business 10 years ago with her daughter Heather Buysee, who now lives in New Ulm, Minn., and focuses on the custom apparel side of the venture.

They sell through their website, uniqueboutiquebling.com, and do a lot of holiday pop-up shops.

Fick brought blankets, cherry pit pillows and scarves that she makes, along with women’s clothing and accessories that she buys at market.

“My husband was like, ‘Why don’t you get some tops to go with your scarves.’ And I maybe went a little overboard (with inventory). I have three girls, and we like clothes,” Fick joked.

Next weekend will be the final pop-up shopping event. Griff Collars & Co., Painted by Prairie and Usborne Books & More are expected to be there.