APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – A hub for food and retail entrepreneurs is coming to downtown Appleton on College Avenue.
It will be called The Fox Den and be inside Fox Commons, which is the old mall — City Center Plaza.
On the first floor of Fox Commons, The Wild Goose Exchange knows what it’s like to turn a pop-up shop into a thriving business.
“We were like we just need a temporary space to try this out, so we were in this space for about four months and then we just realized we had a thing and it was a great way to test out,” said Kim Massey, co-owner of The Wild Goose Exchange.
Three years later, the new and recycled fashion store will be getting a rotation of neighbors with The Fox Den. Ten pre-constructed stalls will allow food and micro-retail entrepreneurs an affordable option to test out their potential businesses.
“There is a lack of these spaces,” said Massey, who is also the regional director for Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corporation. “This is a great place for us to now start putting our eyes on and highlighting to those looking to start growing a retail or restaurant business.”
Revitalizing the old mall has been a partnership between Dark Horse and Boldt development companies that started about two years ago. They’re the ones behind The Fox Den.
Sam Schmidt, of Dark Horse, wasn’t available for an on camera interview, but tells FOX 11 The Fox Den helps fill the remaining space in Fox Commons and will help fulfill the original goal of making the building a downtown attraction once again.
“Honestly, it sounds pretty cool, like a really good opportunity for Appleton to go even more as a very nice town, a very nice city,” said Cesar Donaire, a Lawrence University student.
Donaire is one of the Lawrence University students who moved into a new third floor student apartment inside Fox Commons this fall.
He says he had high expectations when he originally moved to Appleton from New York, having heard there was a downtown mall.
“I went in there and it was like a ghost town,” said Donaire.
Donaire says it is a much different atmosphere now in Fox Commons.
There will eventually be apartments for up to 174 Lawrence students.
The building also includes Mosaic Family Health, Prevea Health and venture capital firm gener8tor.
A timeline for when The Fox Den will open hasn’t been shared.
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