If you've noticed more pop-up markets in Minnesota, you're right. Young adults are fueling the trend.

Jeena Gurung Vomhof used to wait for customers to find her Namaste Brows and Boutique in Roseville.

No more.

Now she takes her boutique to as many pop-up holiday markets as she can across the state.

That helps her earn $200 to $2,000 a day selling cashmere shawls, handmade tote bags, woolen hats and legwarmers at temporary stalls in Duluth and Stillwater and at Christmas markets at the Landmark Center and CHS Field in St. Paul.

"I realized going to markets one at a time, I was making money for sure, versus being at the shop all day and waiting for the customer to come to me," said Vomhof, who immigrated to Minnesota from Nepal about a dozen years ago. "So right from 2022 we started going to all the markets. ... I go everywhere. I love this."

While no group seems to have an exact count, retail pros, small business boosters and economists all have noticed a big bump in the number of pop-up stores and markets across Minnesota. This month alone, thousands of artists, bakers, lotion makers, crafters and other vendors are embracing these venues to earn paychecks, while injecting much-needed life and commerce into downtowns and other quiet corners of the state.

The venues will generate more than $5 million in sales this year, said Brian McDonald, Minnesota director of the U.S. Small Business Administration.

There's the traditional big markets such as Glow at CHS Field, and one associated with Holidazzle, which runs Wednesday through Sunday on Nicollet Mall. But businesses all over are getting in on the fun. Fulton Beer Taproom just had its Fulton Minni Dazzle. Number 12 Cider, also in Minneapolis' North Loop, hosted its own Holiday Craft Market featuring lots of tiny businesses.

"Another trend we've observed," McDonald said, "is a rising number of cultural markets" featuring Native American, Hmong, Black and Latino artists, among others.

Becky Sturm, founder of the StormSister Spatique and the vendor powerhouse behind the Glow market and the Union Depot's MN Christmas Market, has noticed the competition.

"I believe the consumer wants an ever-changing retail environment and pop-ups certainly deliver," she said. "Pop-ups surprise and delight, and you never quite know what you'll find."

Draw for younger adults

The Minneapolis Downtown Council used to host two holiday markets. Now, there are six featuring nearly 300 small businesses at various spots, from the roof of the five-star Four Seasons hotel, to the new North Loop Green office building and the former Herbert White men's shop space at IDS Center, said Kittie Fahey, the council's senior director of advancement.

The three-year-old Dayton's Market inside the former department store building on Nicollet has exploded in size, from 34 small vendors at its inauguration in 2021 to 104 this year. The 70 vendors last year sold $1.5 million in goods in six weeks. This year should top those numbers, said Mich Berthiaume, the Dayton's Project curator.

Increasingly, younger folks "love going to these markets for special gifts," she said. They order their essentials from Amazon or Target and turn to crafters and makers for personal shopping.

Jessy Countney, manager of economic development at the Downtown Council, said people want even more in-person markets, especially since the pandemic.

"Folks are interested in engaging with small businesses selling handmade or curated products," Courtney said. So at the council, "We hope to provide opportunities for our entrepreneurs not just to sell their products, but to also share their stories about why they do what they do."

With the pop-ups downtown, Berthiaume said, it's "getting re-imagined, and it is fluttering with people."

Berthiaume also welcomes the competition and ensures her pop-ups, whether at Dayton's, the Mall of America or elsewhere, include vendors with products that can't be found elsewhere.

Juggling the ups and downs of markets

Artisans many times use the pop-ups to round out revenue streams.

That's why collage artist Maya Beecham and gift-maker Stephanie Gard Buss were among the 15 vendors selling a wide array of art earlier this month at St. Paul United Church of Christ's Artisan Market on Summit Avenue. Crowds snatched up homemade strudel, Norwegian and Swedish rosemaling plaques and boxes of Beecham's CardFolk greeting cards.

Other holiday shoppers oooh-ed and aaah-ed at Buss' vintage spice-tin dioramas that sported playful critters in "Wee Wonderland" settings. Sales of her miniaturized winter scenes raked in $1,100 that day.

Days earlier, Buss broke her record, selling $1,300 of her dioramas at Union Depot's MN Christmas Market in St. Paul.

While impressive, those sales basically covered her costs. The Depot had a $350 booth fee and a requested a 7% scholarship donation. The church's market organizers took a 20% commission on all products sold. That's still better than traditional stores, which often take a 40% commission, Buss said.

It can be a lot when she factors in the cost of art supplies and transportation. Still, Buss and her husband have agreed to let the tiny business ride, as long as sales cover all costs.

Markets stepping stone for some

The see-saw income can make payroll scary. These small business owners need to plan, and many times have other side gigs or day jobs, many vendors said.

"Before Thanksgiving, at the Glow festival, being honest with you, I was hardly making $300. And the fee to be there is $127," said Vomhof of her Namaste Brows & Boutique. "But now after Thanksgiving, I made $500 a few days ago. And I crossed $2,000 at the Roseville holiday craft fair."

That unpredictability is why business partners Ashley Hightower, a public school assistant, and Tasha Nembhard, a HealthPartners account manager, won't quit their day jobs anytime soon.

They started selling their Corporate Headquarters line of satin-lined winter caps in 2023. Now they sell imported hats at the Black Market in the Lab building, at the West Broadway Holiday Boutique and other temporary spots.

"Our hope is that it will become our full-time venture in the future," Nembhard said. For now, they are using pop-ups as a way to learn about business ownership, retail and supply chains.

"We're still very new, so we're just taking everything as a learning experience," Nembhard said.

Vendors need to do the math to see if the pop-ups are worth it, but many are, said Ann Fix, business development vice president at the small business assistance firm Northside Economic Development Opportunity Network (NEON) in Minneapolis.

Fix trains about 100 entrepreneurs each year in the art of running a small businesses by starting small — without large overhead costs or big bank loans. Today, she has about 400 clients making a living in the pop-up arena, which includes everything from farmers markets and food truck festivals to mall kiosks and holiday markets.

"They are such an affordable way for people to get started, and know your customer base," Fix said. "You just learn so much about running a business while at the same time making some revenue at a very low-risk entry point. ... This is the power of a pop-up."

For Vomhof of Namaste, her booths not only help her support several contractors who make the goods, but have also helped make Minnesota her home.

"I moved here from Kathmandu, Nepal. America has become home thanks to the incredible community and support here," Vomhof said. "Managing payroll can sometimes be challenging with the unpredictability of pop-ups. However, I've learned to balance the income streams from the boutique, events and other services to ensure stability."