Downtown Dayton looking for ‘pop-up’ shops

Activated Spaces, an initiative to fill downtown storefronts, is accepting applications for temporary retail and service businesses to open downtown this fall as part of the third phase of its Pop-up Project, according to a Downtown Dayton Partnership news release. The project matches business owners and entrepreneurs with downtown property owners who have first-floor storefront space available, the news release said. Interested retailers can find an application at www.activatedspaces.org, and email it to Sherri Wierzba at wierzba@downtowndayton. org by July 20. Tenants will be selected Aug. 6, and retailers must be ready to open no later than Sept. 14, in time for the fall Urban Nights, Downtown Dayton Partnership officials said. Lease lengths will range from three to six months. Commercial property owners interested in offering space to Pop-Up Shop owners should contact Sherri Wierzba at (937) 224-1518.

Activated Spaces volunteers hope to build on the success of the Pop-Up Project’s pilot and second phases. Two of the three businesses in the pilot phase: Beaute Box, 116 W. Fifth St., and Peace on Fifth, 519 E. Fifth St., completed their temporary leases and entered into traditional long-term ones. Also “going strong” are the three businesses that opened May 11 as part of the second phase of the Pop-Up Project: American Pi, 37 S. St. Clair St.; Arin, 27 S. St. Clair St.; and Vintage Barbershop, 110 W. Fifth St., partnership officials said.

New flavors, logo

Our very own Dayton-based Mikesell’s Snack Food Company is launching what it calls a “new brand identity” and simultaneously unveiling two new flavors in its potato chip family. The snack food company has updated its logo and streamlined its packaging design that “pays tribute to the quality and heritage that Mikesell’s customers have known and loved for more than 100 years,” company officials said in a news release.

By this fall, all of the Mikesell’s chip line will incorporate the new design. The two new additions to the chip lineup are Sweet Chili and Sour Cream on a Groovy Chip and Reduced Fat Tuscan Spice, which the company said “offers a unique flavor with a splash of olive oil, a burst of sun-dried tomato and a hint of rosemary and herbs with 30 percent less fat than regular chips.”

Real art

Real Art Design Groups’ local clients include Hobart Corp., a commercial food equipment and service company, based in Troy.

The firm created “Jake Murphy,” a fictional character who restores and custom-paints vintage mixers, as part of Hobart’s “Mixed Up Jake” social media program.

“We wanted to build on the passion around our mixers to tell the Hobart story in a different way than our typical marketing activities,” said Jenni Bair, Hobart’s brand marketing manager.

“Jake” writes about his custom mixers — created in Dayton at Real Art’s workshop — on his own blog and Facebook, Twitter and Flickr pages. Word about the mixers spread online by social media and technology blogs such as Gizmodo and Mashable. The mixers also drew notice from celebrity chefs who included the Food Network’s Guy Fieri and “Ace of Cakes” host Duff Goldman. In addition, several mixers were auctioned online for charity.

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