Potloc, a Montreal-based company, is changing the face of brick-and-mortar retail in an industry that is gradually shifting towards online shopping.
The startup lists vacant storefronts in various cities and lets residents vote for which retailers they would like to see fill the spaces. Rather than digitally tracking these storefronts, the company uses information from “people on the spot” around the city to identify vacancies.
Since its opening in 2013, the company has helped 15 companies select retail locations around Montreal. Now, they are taking their online operations to Vancouver.
“We work to fill empty stores in neighbourhoods with the best retail projects,” explains Samuel Schoukroun, Potloc’s spokesman. “We have already listed all the empty storefronts [in Vancouver] … on our website.”
The company, which was started by four business school grads—including one from Montreal, two Parisians and one from Lille, France—has currently listed 105 empty storefronts on its new Vancouver-based site.
Shoukroun continues, “Vancouver citizens can vote for their generic needs — maybe a bakery or a coffee house or a bar. And then entrepreneurs could be inspired by these vote results and launch retail projects accordingly. (jiriecaribbean.com) ”
According to Shoukroun, the venture—which charges for web marketing services—is doing well in Montreal. It has been self-financing from its opening, is profitable and has won several awards, including the National Bank’s Institute of Entrepreneurship’s $15,000 first prize.
At a time when brick-and-mortar retail is becoming less and less popular, Potluc may have found a way to increase in-store traffic and success; an area’s locals will have the greatest insight into which types of businesses are most likely to thrive there.
However, Charles Gauthier, president of the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association, suggests that the startup is no more than another tool that can aid businesses in deciding the feasibility of a given location.
“It gives an indication of demand,” he says, “but whether a specific store could be supported from a business perspective is a whole other issue.”
