Pop-up shop concept in works for small business entrepreneurs

One of the biggest hurdles facing a new business is the financial risk. 

But Eric Tasker, creator and owner of SmallBox Company LLC, has plans to hopefully help take some of the sting out of budding businesses. 

The first of many 8-by-20-foot pop-up stores is coming to Railroad Park on the corner of 14th Street and First Avenue South.

Transformed from the shipping containers seen traveling along the nearby railroad tracks, these modified containers will act as a quaint retail space available for a six-to-nine-month lease to owners of local Birmingham startup companies. 

Tasker has combined his architecture degree and entrepreneurial inclinations to pursue a solution that kept some of his own small business owner dreams at bay.

“There seems to be a gap between going from a home-based business or from weekend markets and then knowing where you want to be and being able to find a place where you can afford,” Tasker said. “It’s a big commitment.” 

By leasing out modified shipping containers, he can provide local entrepreneurs the physical space to test the market before they commit to a brick-and-mortar retail place. 

Usually a retail lease is three to five years in a large space, which involves a substantial initial cost. Knowing when and where to make that sort of commitment can be a risky step for small business startups. 

The SmallBox Company’s main objective is to lower the stakes and offer a sense of freedom and flexibility to learn, fail and change tactics before going all in.

Originally, Tasker and his wife were planning to put several small houses up in northern Georgia as getaway rental homes, an idea he attempted through Co.Starters, a nine-week intensive entrepreneurial program run by Create Birmingham and REV. When the plan fell through, he used the research he did on the modularity of the containers to pursue a more viable solution for local entrepreneurs. He quickly discovered there were similar pop-up retail experiments happening in other places such as Cleveland, Las Vegas and even London.

Some of these containers were more permanent, but he chose to design it for a more temporary “first-step” use. Tasker said his is more mobile and closer in design to the modular containers that have been popping up in festivals over the last few years.

“I’m hoping to use them in clusters — one here, one there. The idea is to get a critical mass of retail, so they’re not just out on an island by themselves,” he said.

Tasker said he aims to eventually put more downtown and in nearby neighborhoods and areas such as Lakeview, Avondale, Woodlawn, Norwood and Ensley.

So far, he doesn’t have any tenants, but he said he already has talked logistics and market goals with a couple of entrepreneurs interested in leasing. He said he also has talked with a bike shop, a coffee company and few other potential retailers about leasing the first retail pod he bought in Railroad Park. 

Tasker said he plans to choose tenants based on their interest in particular surrounding areas. He wants to discuss where they think their market is, what they’re selling and who they’re selling to. Then he can help locate the right place for the container. After that, they can build a sales record, secure financing and eventually transition to a traditional retail store. 

“I chose Railroad Park to start because it’s one of the most vibrant markets in Birmingham. The space lends itself to a fairly wide variety of retail opportunities,” Tasker said.

Co.Starters is based on a program called Lean, which focuses on getting products to the market sooner rather than later. For more information about leasing a retail pod, contact Tasker at eric.tasker@bellsouth.net.