BLUEFIELD, W.Va. — Three “pop-up” businesses will be in the City of Bluefield for Small Business Saturday, the day after the traditional Black Friday.
Jim Spencer, the city’s community and economic development director, said the pop-up program is designed to bring in new businesses that may not yet have a permanent location here or only be online.
“It’s a way to give them a temporary location for visibility,” he said. “We’ll have three pop-ups for Small Business Saturday.”
“We have 27 businesses in the city taking part in Small Business Saturday,” he said. “With the three pop-ups that be 30.”
Spencer said those pop-ups are 3Up2Up, Hobo Nickels and Graci’s Lotion Bars.
Hobo Nickels will have a temporary store set-up at Cole Harley-Davidson on Bland Street and both 3Up2Up and Graci’s Lotion Bars will be at Corner Coffee, on Cherry Street just down from Bluefield Regional Medical Center.
A clothing brand based on West Virginia’s three points up in the “W” and two points up in the “V,” 3Up2Up is a start-up business created by Bluefield High School graduate Ansel Ponder.
“We are excited to welcome Ansel and 3Up2Up and wish them much success in the future,” Spencer said, adding that Ponder is an entrepreneur who left the area (he played football at Western Michigan University) and came back to live here.
Ponder, the brand manager for 3Up2Up, said in a statement that the company is “embracing” the state’s heritage with its clothing products that are made in West Virginia.
“It represents made in West Virginia, and also on a deeper level our brand conceptualizes 3Up2Up by saying it is substance plus style,” he said. “Beneath the surface of West Virginia, you can find substance in people and the scenic beauty that our state offers.”
Ponder said the brand is pioneered by a group of individuals who envision the state in an accomplished fashion.
“It’s not only a fashion handcrafted from quality materials, but also a common thread made up of unique stories to form a broader narrative (of the state),” he said. “It is designed to empower all people throughout the state of West Virginia.”
Spencer said Hobo Nickels is a business owned by Duane Caldwell and harks back to a tradition that reached its heyday during the Great Depression when hobos would carve various designs and images on nickels then sell them.
Spencer, a Giles County native, has Narrows High School on one side of a quarter and Giles High School on the other.
Although they are called hobo nickels, other coins are also used. Nickels (called Indian Head or Buffalo) were plentiful at the time (they went out of mint in 1938) and easier to engrave because of their thickness and width, according to the Collectors Weekly website.
Carving/engraving or defacing coins is only illegal if it is done for a fraudulent purpose.
Graci’s Lotion Bars, owned by Graci Lowe, are all homemade, he said.
Small Business Saturday will be Nov. 26.
— Contact Charles Boothe at [email protected]