Karma Co-op is a sustainable food store located in Seaton Village in Toronto. The Open Streets collective has engaged many of Toronto’s neighbourhoods with their event across Bloor and Yonge since 2013. For two days, the streets are open for pedestrians and cyclists to experience new art and activities created by community organizations, artists, activists and the-like given the venue to share their message and simply have fun.

During Open Streets in 2018, I proposed that we take advantage of this great event and the proximity along Bloor Street to the shop (a short walk) and create the “Build Your Own Grocery Store Pop-Up Shop”. The purpose of our participation was to engage with the local community to better understand what products they seek in a store and to understand the barriers they may have towards visiting the brick and mortar store.

THE PROCESS:

• We set up a tent and an information table with marketing and outreach materials.
• We picked up about 5-6 bundles of boxes from Karma and re-built them into towers.
• With a roll of white paper we covered the front the cardboard to create fridges and shelves for participants to fill up!
• We set up paints and water and markers for people to draw on the shelves with.
• The spectacle of a cardboard grocery store drew passers by in.
• As people watched their kids draw, or began drawing products on the shelves themselves, we took the opportunity to talk with them about Karma, their personal shopping habits, and to provide one month free membership trials.

SKILLS:

• Public Space Activation
• Public engagement
• Volunteer coordination
• Project management
• Experience design + research