Jeena Gurung Vomhof used to wait for customers to find her Namaste Brows and Boutique in Roseville.
No more.
Now she takes her boutique to as many pop-up holiday markets as she can across the state.
That helps her earn $200 to $2,000 a day selling cashmere shawls, handmade tote bags, woolen hats and legwarmers at temporary stalls in Duluth and Stillwater and at Christmas markets at the Landmark Center and CHS Field in St. Paul.
“I realized going to markets one at a time, I was making money for sure, versus being at the shop all day and waiting for the customer to come to me,” said Vomhof, who immigrated to Minnesota from Nepal about a dozen years ago. “So right from 2022 we started going to all the markets. ... I go everywhere. I love this.”
While no group seems to have an exact count, retail pros, small business boosters and economists all have noticed a big bump in the number of pop-up stores and markets across Minnesota. This month alone, thousands of artists, bakers, lotion makers, crafters and other vendors are embracing these venues to earn paychecks, while injecting much-needed life and commerce into downtowns and other quiet corners of the state.
The venues will generate more than $5 million in sales this year, said Brian McDonald, Minnesota director of the U.S. Small Business Administration.
There’s the traditional big markets such as Glow at CHS Field, and one associated with Holidazzle, which runs Wednesday through Sunday on Nicollet Mall. But businesses all over are getting in on the fun. Fulton Beer Taproom just had its Fulton Minni Dazzle. Number 12 Cider, also in Minneapolis’ North Loop, hosted its own Holiday Craft Market featuring lots of tiny businesses.