Pop-up shop gives helping hand to homeless

Pop-up shops have proven to be a trendy way for fashion labels and brands to create a buzz and promote their wares without setting up a permanent bricks and mortar shop. It’s also a formula that Edmonton’s Street Store is borrowing to help bring winter clothing to homeless people.

This Saturday, October 24, the group will open a pop up shop for an afternoon in order to give those living on the streets the chance to pick out warm clothes for the coming chilly months. Spokesman Joel Wegner tells the Edmonton Sun that it’s a dignified way to help bring layers to people who need the clothes the most.

“It’s a cool empowering experience,” Wegner told the paper. “What they’re used to is getting clothes in a garbage bag that maybe doesn’t meet their fashion sense or style. It’s more about an angle of sympathy, whereas with us, it’s much more about empowerment.”

Last year, the Street Store clothed over 200 homeless people with shoes, shirts, hoodies, sweaters, pants and gloves as well as new socks, underwear and winter hats.