Streets Alive for Small Business
Activating streets along NYC commercial corridors
Street Lab is activating streets along commercial corridors in low/moderate-income areas to help these areas thrive for small-business owners and residents alike. Our effort includes innovative programming such as our “Meet a Small Business” program, and an Equipment Library that lets Business Improvement Districts borrow Street Lab’s custom-designed gear to host their own activities. With initial support from the NYC Department of Small Business Services, we’re expanding this initiative in 2024 including with new programs and designs. Get in touch to become a supporter.
Programming.
Equipment Library.
Design.
Programming
Since 2022, we’ve provided programming 136 times along 31 commercial corridors including Sunset Park and Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn, Harlem in Manhattan, Stapleton in Staten Island, Elmhurst in Queens, and Concourse in the Bronx.
Equipment Library
Street Lab’s Equipment Library for Public Space enables community groups in New York City to borrow Street Lab’s custom-designed furniture and programming kits to activate neighborhood public spaces across the city. Launched with founding support from the NYC Dept. of Small Business Services and NYC Dept. of Transportation, the Library has already lent out programming kits 258 times to 55 community groups, including 34 Business Improvement Districts, enabling 202 days of activation. In 2024, we aim to double the size of the Library—get in touch to support this effort.
Benches
One Big Table
Triangle Tables
One Big Bench
PLAY Kits
Meet a Small Business
Carts
And more…!
Design
Street Lab is developing new programs and designs for activating streets in commercial districts and drawing more foot traffic to local small businesses. Watch this space for new announcements
Made possible by
Additional support from
These Open Streets along commercial corridors offer a historic opportunity to create safe, vibrant public spaces where New Yorkers of all ages can gather in the heart of business districts across the city. Street Lab is excited to partner with community groups, local small businesses, and SBS to offer solutions that build community and strengthens the local economy in these high-need neighborhoods.
—Leslie Davol, Executive Director, Street Lab
When I saw what you created on our street, it was exactly what I dreamed of, but never imagined possible. Somehow you created the dream in my head of what the city can be.”
—David Estrada, Sunset Park Fifth Ave BID
Latest news:
Meeting Small Businesses along Fulton Street
On Saturday, April 13, Street Lab popped up in front of four small businesses on Fulton Street in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, to offer another "Demo Day" in partnership with FAB Fulton (see photos of our first “Demo Day” on Fulton Street last year, here). Using our Meet a...
Meet a Small Business on Fulton Street
On Saturday, April 1, Street Lab’s Meet a Small Business program landed on Fulton Street in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, to showcase local businesses in partnership with FAB Fulton. A new Street Lab-designed cart made its debut, stopping in front of three small businesses...
Activating streets to support NYC small businesses
This past Sunday, Street Lab tested two new programs supporting small businesses on the Open Street on East 115th Street in front of La Marqueta—One Big Table, featuring free food samples from market vendors, and Meet a Small Business, featuring a plant-potting...
