CORNWALL, Ontario – Residents may have seen the large metal shipping containers that “popped up” recently in Cornwall’s downtown and Le Village.
City of Cornwall administration has confirmed that soon these boxes will be available for public use.
Three of these boxes, two located near the Cornwall Square on Pitt St., and one next to The Port in Le Village will be available for rent, probably by the middle of next week, July 8.
Entrepreneurs, businesses, and non-profits will be able to rent these boxes at a daily rate in order to promote and sell goods.
A fourth box will be located at Marina 200 near the Cornwall Civic Complex and will be used by the City to offer rentals of bikes, games, and other sporting equipment.
Mark Boileau, the City of Cornwall’s General Manager of Planning, Recreation, and Development explained that each of the boxes cost approximately $4,000 each.
These boxes are a part of an overall placemaking initiative designed to help local businesses through creating vibrant and dynamic environments in Cornwall.
“This is a win-win-win. There is so much potential here and I just want to see it realized,” said Councillor Todd Bennett on the topic of placemaking at a recent Council meeting.
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The City had already purchased the boxes back in late February thanks to an initiative proposed by Councillor Bennett to have pop-up shops in Lamoureux Park.
The original plan was to have pop-up shops in the park and set up a small market area, however, the COVID-19 pandemic derailed these plans.
“We thought because of COVID we wouldn’t do it because it would be a handicap for the businesses, but with all of these place making ideas going on, I thought we would give this a shot,” explained Boileau.
For a time, during the COVID-19 pandemic parks were closed and Boileau also felt that social distancing requirements would make the Lamoureux Park idea unfeasible at the time.
Boileau explained that he had approached Councillor Todd Bennett and Councillor Eric Bergeron with this re-purposed idea for the pop-up shops and they were both enthusiastic.
The pop-up shops now located in the downtown and in Le Village are being painted by local artists, and will be available for booking through the Recreation Department.
Rental rates will be $20 a day between Sunday and Tuesday and $25 a day between peak days which are Wednesday to Saturday.