During the early part of her career in the technology sector, Jo Lee’s perspective was global. The industry’s momentum swept her up into jobs on the West Coast, in New York City and overseas.
Now, Lee, a California native who’s lived on Providence’s East Side for 20 years with her family, has adjusted her focus. As the founder of PopUp Rhody, she’s zeroed in on the local economy and nurturing the small businesses that sustain it.
Founded by Lee in 2020, PopUp Rhody connects businesses and locations that have available space with other small businesses that need a spot to set up shop or to hold an event.
Most recently, PopUp Rhody landed space at Farm Fresh Rhode Island for Rhode Island Fashion Week’s 2022 runway shows, which wrapped up in October.
Lee also helped facilitate Fashion Week’s Fashion Swaps & Sips event, a clothing swap held in September at Ellie’s cafe in Providence.
“For people who do events, it’s a bit of a godsend because Rhode Island is rich in unique spaces, but there isn’t a dominant repository where you can go to find them,” Lee said. “There’s all this legwork, and it becomes a process of stumbling upon [a spot] and maybe finding a phone number to access space.”
PopUp Rhody also helped the startup Muse Mirror set up shop at Providence Place mall in May, giving mall visitors a peek at a high-tech makeup mirror created by four University of Rhode Island graduates.
Lee promises more pop-ups at the mall this holiday season but says she doesn’t want to ruin the surprise by revealing names.
At its core, she says, PopUp Rhody makes connections that benefit small businesses that don’t need or want a permanent physical location, and larger, more established businesses with space to spare.
The platform went live just as the COVID-19 pandemic began to force a tidal wave of business closures. Lee put the idea “on ice” until doors started reopening and fledgling entrepreneurs were becoming adept at doing business virtually.
“PopUp Rhody gives businesses a lever to generate revenue,” Lee said. “It gives creative businesses a place to touch down, make contact and then go back online. We’ve emerged into a business environment that’s very conducive for PopUp Rhody. COVID fast-forwarded the integration of virtual and IRL [in real life] commerce, yet the occupation of business space is built around the primacy of brick and mortar and subsequent need for long-term leases. PopUp Rhody helps businesses connect and share space to thrive in our new hybrid world.”
After spending the early part of her career at companies in California and New York that ultimately disrupted the tech sector, Lee was well-positioned to come up with an idea to challenge the commercial real estate market.
It was in 2019 that Lee, who lives a short distance away from the popular corridor of locally owned shops on Hope Street, began to recognize a shift in the economic climate for small, creative businesses. Selling products or services in a storefront or office was still essential, but in many cases temporary.
During her regular visits to Stock Culinary Goods on Hope Street with a substantial selection of Rhode Island-made products, Lee recognized the broader potential in what the store has become known for – hosting pop-ups for small Rhode Island food-based businesses.
“One day I was at Stock, and Stock built its brand around pop-ups. Every time you went in, there was a pop-up. I realized this was such a win-win,” Lee said. “It’s market research, experiential shopping and revenue-generating. What can be better?”
At the same time, Lee recognized the strain that regularly organizing and hosting successful pop-ups was putting on Stock’s owner, Jan Dane.
“She said it’s a heavy lift, with all of the coordination and missed calls. And at the end of this, where was the time for promotion?” Lee said.
After the stagnation of the pandemic, Lee enlisted her longtime friend Julie Holabird to join PopUp Rhody as her equity partner.
Holabird, who spent years building developer relations and a customer support system at music metadata company Gracenote, is Lee’s “alter ego,” Lee said.
“[Holabird] is one of those people who says, ‘Let’s develop a process for it,’ ” Lee said. “For her, everything is a problem to solve. Together, we are a nice match.”
The two developed a dual platform featuring a marketplace for businesses to connect over available space and an elevated concierge offering. The service takes on all the legwork, from matchmaking to promotion, for businesses that want to host regular, rotating pop-ups.
For now, PopUp Rhody serves just the Ocean State, but Lee is already eyeing expansion.
She’s considering popping up in cities such as New Orleans or Baltimore as a franchise “rather than just having a global platform that serves everybody.”
(A couple of quotes in this story have been updated to provide further clarity.)