POP-UP RETAIL: Cafe con Leche del Este

During the month of October, rogueHAA began work on our latest tactical urbanism strategy, the pop-up initiative – Cafe con Leche del Este.  Cafe con Leche de Este is a community led pop-up coffee shop and event space located within a vacant storefront within the Lafayette Park strip mall. Working with the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation (DEGC), the owners of the Lafayette Shopping Plaza,  the Jefferson East Business Association (JEBA), the Lafayette Park community, and the cafe owners of Cafe con Leche, rogueHAA designed, managed, and constructed the pop-up retail in under four weeks.  The budget was $4000 and included all construction materials, furniture rental, labor, artwork, ceiling and lighting treatments, signage, and interior accessories.  The pop-up cafe and community event space occurred during the entire month of November, hosting multiple movie screenings, lecture events, and gatherings.  In total, over 2,000 people walked through the doors, making this pop-up space the most successful rogueHAA regeneration strategy to date.

More specifically, rogueHAA would like to thank the DEGC and JEBA for helping facilitate the funding, permits, and additional management required to make this project come to fruition. We’d like to thank Franklin Furniture for their generous lending of furniture. Thank you to Patty at Lafayette Foods for brokering the use of the Mies Storefront. Most importantly, we’d like to thank ALL of the community volunteers who either donated materials money or put in countless hours constructing or detailing this community space. And lastly, we have a few individuals who went above and beyond the call of volunteer duty: Cal Navin, Betty Steehler, Jim Griffioen, Sara Woodward, Karen Barney, Jill-Morgan Aubert, Vasco Roma, and Noah Resnick.