Storefront, retail space marketer, opens in Chicago

Storefront, an online marketplace for retail space, expanded into Chicago on Tuesday.

The company helps businesses and individuals find retail space to sell their products, especially short-term leases for pop-up stores. Storefront already operated in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York City.

“We have been seeing the number of pop-up stores grow at an incredible pace with over 1000+ stores set up through Storefront in less than a year,” co-founder and Erik Eliason said in a news release. “As we expand into our fourth major U.S. city today, we aim to continue making retail accessible for all brands, big or small, while also helping drive down vacancies for space owners.”

Storefront says merchants that used its service racked more than $40 million in sales last year.

The company recently added an Instant Book feature that lets a client directly book space from the owner, sometimes the same day.

“The benefits of short-term leases outweigh the cost and risk of long-term leases, allowing emerging brands the ability to test a market,” said Tristan Pollock, co-founder and chief operating officer. “Chicago, for us, was a natural next step, as its growing tech hub and vibrant community will inevitably have an appetite creating and indulging in unique brand experiences.”