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Made In Baltimore Pop-Up Shop Encourages Local Gift Buying

BALTIMORE (WJZ)-- This is the third year for the "Made in Baltimore" pop-up shop and the main focus is to encourage people to buy local items that are "Made in Baltimore."

Andrea Tomlin is one of more than 60 local business owners who've set-up shop in the old bank building at the corner of North Avenue and North Charles Street. This will be an opportunity for them to get a piece of the holiday sales.

"They are able to touch, feel, see what the products are like," says Andrea Tomlin, the owner of Fly Nerd. "Even discover our products even if they are not looking for us."

Another plus of the pop-up shop, entrepreneurs are able to drop off their items here and for a small fee, the staff will manage their sales. That's a benefit for small business owners who usually only have a staff of one.

"A lot of the businesses here are too small to be included in the inventory of a Target or a Walmart," says Andy Cook, the Made in Baltimore Program Director. "So we see this as a step up to grow to the point where they may be able to."

The City's Office of Sustainability promotes this effort to push dollars to local businesses.

Siri Ming of Baltimore says she has no doubt there are benefits to spending her money in her city.

"We've got an ornament made out of a book. My mom is a librarian she's a retired librarian so this seemed like the perfect thing for her," says Ming.

After this weekend, the pop-up shop will re-open on Thursday and run through Christmas Eve and business owners here say the benefits are obvious.

"Online, if you've never seen the product in real life, you're not sure what you're getting, because everybody takes good pictures," says Arvay Adams, the owner The Sporting Life. "But to actually be able to see product, meet the maker, people sometimes just buy because they like you, so that helps also."

The Made in Baltimore pop up shop is at 1901 N. Charles Street. There are more than 60 businesses who are participating in this "Made in Baltimore" pop-up shop. Click here for additional information.

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