Jan 22, 2012

Pop-up Store Taken to ExtremeBy Tara BannowPress-Citizen.com

Iowa City, IA – The stunning success of her holiday pop-up store, December, inspired local businesswoman Catherine Champion to take the concept to an ambitious extreme: a new store every month.

If one doesn’t work out? Easy, she said. Toss it and move on.

“I have no abandonment issues,” Champion, who owns two downtown women’s clothing boutiques, Catherine’s and Cheap and Chic, said with a giggle.

The first store on her calendar is Valentine, for which 30 local artists already have signed on to contribute their homemade jewelry, T-shirts, underwear, cards and paintings. It’s set to open Friday and be open until Valentine’s Day. It’ll be at 120 S. Dubuque St., the space that currently houses Cheap and Chic, which will close Wednesday.

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