The sharing economy

GLOBAL INVESTOR 2.15 — 37
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1 Architect and founder
of the pop-up service
miLES, Eric Ho.
2 Listings of pop-up
storefronts available on
madeinles.org
3 Minimalist design
makes optimal use of the
limited space at this
Lower East Side pop-up.
4 Fashion and accessories
are among the
wide range of miLES
shopping options.
5 Looking for a bite to
eat? Pop-up restaurants
abound in the now
revitalized Lower East
Side of New York City.
Pop-ups
transform NYC!
madeinles.org
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A walk along a street filled with vacant storefronts
in an otherwise thriving New York neighborhood
prompted architect Eric Ho to start the civic-minded
pop-up service miLES in 2012. The idea was
simple: connect the organizations and people who
want to use the space on a temporary basis with
the owners who need to rent it. Through miLES,
organizations can book a pop-up storefront and work
with the team to develop the space in New York’s
Lower East Side and beyond. The pop-up storefronts
have been used to sell designer purses, serve up
gelato and Thai cuisine, watch films, host art shows
and hold classes on salary negotiations and energy
management.
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Global Investor: How has miLES changed the Lower
East Side for the better?
ERIC HO: We cultivate diversity within the neighborhood.
miLES has enabled more than 100 pop-up uses, including
for emerging brands, small businesses and the
creative community who do not have access to commercial
spaces. We are starting a movement where the
neighborhood does not always have to be filled with bars,
cafes, restaurants and retail chains, but independent
activations that anyone who has an idea can start.
How popular are these pop-ups?
ERIC HO: We have received over a thousand requests
over the two years since we started to operate. The
most inspired use we had was a project called the
“Strangers Project.” The founder of the project has collected
anonymous stories of strangers on the streets
of New York and other places. They filled our space with
over 600 of these stories where people talked about
the deepest aspects of humanity and their lives. This
exhibit attracted the most diverse audience.
miLES worked earlier this year with ETH Zurich for
the Ideas Festival. How was that collaboration?
ERIC HO: The experience with ETH Zurich was great!
They had a storefront right across from their paper
pavilion for their assembly process, instead of a warehouse
space far away in a different neighborhood.
What are your views on the sharing economy?
ERIC HO: The sharing economy is simply providing shared
access to resources, which is something that humans
have done for many centuries. It is just that now it is
enabled by technology and access becomes much
easier, and it has added a component of creating trust
between strangers.