Now Accepting Applications - 12 Days of Local

Now Accepting Applications - 12 Days of Local

Posted by Liz Cooke on

The Backstory:

A little less than two years ago, in December of 2015, Lionheart Prints was still a one-woman show, operating out of a small studio space in our house. 

For the first couple years, I spent Monday through Friday I was designing, filling orders, and doing all the other hundred and one things you do to run a business, and on weekends, I was hustling at markets and pop-up shops. But I dreamt of having a shop space of my own, what it would look like, how it would feel when you walked in, and all the events, workshops and pop-ups I would want to feature if I ever had the chance.

On a very caffeinated whim one morning in early December, I was perusing Craigslist for available retail spaces, and I called several places to inquire about commercial listings. I had no idea what rent like this would cost, and I just doing some preliminary research. I had no idea if I could afford anything at all, or how commercial leases worked, and also, wtf does triple net mean (?!).

Out of about a dozen calls, only one agent gave me the time of day. I called to inquire about a small space on Magazine near Jena Street (for all you locals, across from Buddha Bar and down the street from New York Pizza), and it was like way, way, WAY out of my budget. But instead of hanging up, Jennifer Whitney, actually was curious, and genuinely wanted to help. An artist as well as commercial real estate agent, Jennifer took time to learn about my business and within a few minutes on the phone, we hatched a crazy idea: what if, instead of looking at regular leases (minimum 12 months), we tested out this concept with a micro lease on a commercial space that was sitting vacant. This was a brilliant solution to answer my burning question:

If we build it, will they come?

Within 36 hours, I was signing a two-week lease at an amazing Magazine Street property for an extended 12 day pop-up shop, featuring my products, and a different local maker every day. We called it 12 Days of Local and it was a HIT!

In 72 hours, I designed graphics, called all my maker friends to fill the schedule, decorated the space and opened that Friday.

 

Well, we built it, and you came! The success of the event proved to me that if I moved the business out of my house into a retail space, we would be able to make it.

Come January, Jennifer and I were officially on the hunt for the perfect space, and after 4 months of searching, negotiating, almost yeses and so many nos, we found our cute little spot on Oak Street and moved in almost immediately. 

We worked out of Oak Street, grew our team, grew our business, and 16 months later, we were outgrowing that space again, and in August, we moved to our forever home at 3312 Magazine Street. 

Now, we want to go back to our roots and do 12 Days of Local but bigger and better!

Click Here to Apply

Apply Here

We are accepting applications for awesome local makers beginning today, through Saturday, November 25. We will notify the chosen makers on Monday, November 27.

Please note the sliding scale price structure for the available days. Weekend foot traffic is heavier than weekday and Sundays are shorter than our standard 10-6 work day.

Best wishes and we look forward to seeing all the cool things you make!

When: December 1- 12, 2017
Where: Lionheart Prints, 3312 Magazine Street
Contact us at hello@lionheartprints.com

Best wishes and we look forward to seeing all the cool things you make!

 

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