Photo credit from Saturday Shoppes
St. Pete’s Tropicana Field parking lot is packed every first Saturday with hundreds of local vendors and participants. The bustling monthly event, Saturday Shoppes, is carried out by Renee Edwards, owner and creator of the local pop-up shop.
Her first market was held at Bethel Community Baptist Church with the goal to engage thirty vendors, but ended up with over sixty. The second event offered space to close to one hundred, and by the third event, Edwards had partnered with Tropicana Field to manage 150 vendors. Currently, Saturday Shoppes hosts over 4,700 vendors.
Photo credit from Saturday Shoppes Facebook
Saturday Shoppes didn’t initially begin as a local market concept; it started as a second job for Edwards.
She shared, “In 2017, I was the first black product [being sold] in the St. Pete Chamber Store,” noting that markets started by white business owners seemed unwilling to open space for her vendors.
So she started her own. “Saturday Shoppes is a pop-up shop for minority and women-owned businesses.”
As Edwards’ pop-up shop gained notoriety, she noticed that many black-owned businesses needed help navigating how to properly run and maintain their establishments. Thus began the Saturday Shoppes Vendor Academy – an eight-week academy focused on basic business practices, equipping new owners with the knowledge and skills to run their businesses.
Edward has set up three training programs to educate and provide live training. Interested learners can engage with the Vendor Academy and the E-commerce Academy, and will have access to the Food Truck Academy coming this May.
“Whatever we teach in the classroom setting, you’re able to come out and practice it at the market – real time,” Edwards confirms.
From learning product placement and selling techniques under their Ecommerce Academy, to understanding inventory and choosing the right payment options for your business, these immersive modules ensure business leaders are adequately trained to run their companies.
Saturday Shoppes has continued to grow, expanding both within and outside Florida – from the Tampa Bay Rays’ parking lot to the city of Clearwater, then down to Miami, and eventually up to Atlanta – and is creating space for Black vendors anywhere they are welcomed.
The entrepreneur also opened Everyday Shoppes, a retail-owned location in Brandon, FL. Edwards applied for a grant with the Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg and was awarded a quarter of a million dollars, allowing her to create and fund the permanent shop in 2024.
Edwards doesn’t sit on her success; she focuses on her next move to help others. Saturday Shoppes takes it a step further by showcasing and highlighting minority- and women-owned businesses because they “always fall last.”
Photo credit from Saturday Shoppes Facebook
“Someone always needs help and needs your support…It’s always something that needs to be done,” states the market owner.
Don’t miss out on the next pop-up shop on Saturday, March 7th, from 10 AM to 3 PM at Tropicana Field.
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