How the Calder Way Pop-Up provides opportunity for small businesses in State College
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- Calder Way Pop-Up offers entrepreneurs short-term retail space to test concepts.
- Town Pride grew from pop-up to permanent store in downtown State College.
- Pop-up vendors are rotated bi-monthly via a competitive selection process.
A pop-up shop program in downtown State College has allowed a rotating cast of entrepreneurs a temporary space, transforming an otherwise vacant property into an opportunity for small business owners.
The Calder Way Pop-Up program started in spring 2024 as a way for businesses to test products in a physical space without the obligation of a long-term commercial lease. A variety of pop-ups have taken over the space at 236 E. Calder Way, including clothing stores, an art bar and a yoga studio.
Kendra Kielbasa, a retail and commercial business associate with the Downtown State College Improvement District (DSCID), said the pop-up not only aims to introduce new businesses, but to establish them as permanent locations in State College.
“It’s really evolved in the last year,” Kielbasa said. “We’re moving more toward a more competitive type of process and really working with vendors that have a high propensity to actually move into a brick and mortar space of their own at some point.”
Town Pride, a retailer specializing in locally themed gifts and apparel, is the pop-up’s biggest success story so far. It opened its first franchise store in State College this March after starting as a pop-up last summer.
Kielbasa said Town Pride is “a great amplification of the program.” With the new franchise location also on Calder Way, the store has helped bring foot traffic to the neighboring businesses, including the pop-up.
“[Town Pride] not only helped fill the pop-up spot, but took another vacant space and turned it into a thriving business, and that’s a win for our downtown, for the larger business community and certainly for the economy,” Kielbasa said.
Archer Wren, a size-inclusive and eco-friendly underwear and swimwear manufacturer, will occupy the pop-up space through the end of July. Its products are sewn in Minnesota and shipped around the world, but this is the business’s first in-person venture since launching last November.
Co-owner Gianna Shawley, who lives in State College and operates the new location, said owning a physical space allows customers an up-close look at everything for sale.
“Even people that knew us from online were able to come in and touch things and feel things,” Shawley said. “Some of my friends joke, they’re like, ‘Every time I come in to see you, I think I’m coming in to buy one thing, and then I go out with three.’”
Although there’s less foot traffic in the summer, Shawley said she can connect with customers in ways that she never could online, while events like Arts Fest will still give her a good feel for how the store fares when it’s busier downtown.
“There’s a lot of people that come in just to shield away from the heat and just come in to chat about sustainability and fabrics and garment construction, so that’s been really fun to just talk to people around town — students and non-students, too; there’s been a good mix of both,” Shawley said.
The DSCID and Comet Properties maintain a rolling list of interested vendors through an online interest form. New pop-ups are rotated every two months in a competitive selection process.
The next few pop-up stores have already been selected, Kielbasa said. Rooted Farmstead, a farm and garden market based in Bellefonte, will claim the space for August and September. Kelly’s Kollections, a boutique based in Altoona, will open in October and November. OOMA Boutique, based in Butler County, will take over for part of the spring.
Kielbasa said the DSCID aims to “create support systems” for each new business. On top of in-kind funding from Comet Properties, the DSCID advertises each business on social media and checks in with store owners throughout their leasing period. She said the goal is not only to generate short-term interest, but to grow long-term local businesses.
“We want businesses that are going to add to the vibrancy, that are going to bring a unique experience or offering that builds excitement,” Kielbasa said. “We’re looking for things that help shape that downtown and things that we can be really proud of as a community.
This story was originally published June 29, 2025 at 6:00 AM.
