A small business accelerator program that uses revamped shipping containers to help entrepreneurs get a toehold in the market is making its local debut with The Gift Shop, a pop-up art gallery for underrepresented artists, in the ByWard Market Friday.
Stackt is a marketplace concept launched in Toronto in 2019 that is based on a modular, moveable design made of shipping containers. The Stackt model offers small business owners an affordable “testing ground” to experiment with a physical storefront or new concepts. Since 2019, Stackt has worked with more than 3,000 business owners.
Since its inception, the Toronto Stackt marketplace has evolved into the Toronto Flagship Marketplace, an entrepreneurial hub at 28 Bathurst St. near Front Street that takes up an entire city block and houses 10-100 retail, hospitality and art businesses.
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“The Flagship has become a vibrant ecosystem of commerce and connection, everything that brings customers together in a unique environment — a city block built entirely out of shipping containers,” Stackt founder Matt Rubinoff told OBJ. “They’re built upon a modular approach, so if we had to pick it up and move to another site, we’d be able to do that.”
The Flagship recently extended its lease for the government-owned land on which it operates in Toronto, and Rubinoff is setting his sights on expanding across the country.
Starting Friday, Stackt shipping containers will start popping up in more Canadian cities, including Ottawa, thanks to the company’s small business accelerator program, Stacktx. Designed to support small businesses and connect entrepreneurs with networks and resources across the country, Stacktx has developed a grant program that will allow selected businesses to inhabit a shipping container storefront free of charge for a month.
The program will set up three shipping containers, one each in Ottawa, Calgary and Vancouver, that will host small businesses on a monthly rotation. To launch the project in Ottawa, Rubinoff said the ByWard Market was chosen as the “ideal location.”
“The Stacktx program gives an opportunity for businesses to access resources, partnerships and a physical component, which is a very important piece,” he explained. “We can provide physical space for businesses to be in there for one month and secure high-foot-traffic areas and premium locations for a ton of engagement with customers, all free of charge to the businesses, which is great access to the community.”
The Gift Shop pop-up in the ByWard Market will launch June 14 and provide exposure for under-represented visual and performing artists.
Imani Busby, founder and curator of The Gift Shop, said the project provides retail space to sell artwork, as well as serving as a hub for performing arts, all to support artists from marginalized communities.
As a small business owner, Busby said the Stacktx program has allowed her to take the step toward a physical storefront and connect with the Ottawa community.
“It’s a very accessible model that allows a small business owner like me to have a storefront for a month and see how their work and ideas work in a brick-and-mortar model,” said Busby. “So that was exciting for me to be able to test it out in a storefront, see how things sell and the impact things have for a community for artists who have been systematically marginalized by society.”
Busby, 22, launched The Gift Shop last year with the goal of creating a “creative hub.” Busby said she gained a “well-rounded perspective” on the art industry and its shortcomings.
“I had this intersectional lens that taught me what happens at all these different levels and I observed the dynamics with artists being left out of conversations or lowballed with prices,” she explained. “I want to build something that helps bring people to a place of informed self-advocacy and economic self-sufficiency so that they can thrive.”
Rubinoff said Busby’s business model was an ideal fit for Stacktx’s debut in Ottawa.
“It’s ideal because The Gift Shop supports other businesses and artists there and has everything from living room concerts to prints from artists that are on display,” said Rubinoff. “It’s great to have that curation and support of a number of different artists and entrepreneurs within the same space.”
Beyond her month-long presence in Ottawa, Busby said she’s hoping to bring The Gift Shop to more cities across Canada.
Rubinoff said that Stacktx plans to work with 11,000 small businesses over the next 18 months and hopes to maintain a presence in Ottawa past the year-long term — perhaps even following in the footsteps of the Toronto Flagship Market.
“The units themselves are modular and can be moved around, but we’d like to stay beyond the fixed term,” said Rubinoff. “I definitely think the Flagship model can be a possibility in places like Ottawa, too.
“When we find a location that supports that growth and expansion and has that opportunity, we would love to explore that.”
