An entrepreneur is moving their idea to support local artisans from Liverpool to Hunt’s Point in time for the Christmas season.

Stephanie Sereda had intended to open an artist’s collective shop as part of her plan to buy the United Church in Liverpool.

When that sale fell through, she began looking for a new location and landed in Hunt’s Point.

Sereda says the spot she’s found is ideal to capture the attention of shoppers during the holidays.

“Picture a holiday, like a Hallmark holiday shop downtown on those little whimsical downtowns, that's what it looks like. It's all beautifully festive and then we're also going to have coffee, tea or mulled cider and we have Queens Coast trading company doing our beautiful teas," said Sereda. "Also, we're going to have desserts, so cupcakes and cakes and rum balls and sugar cookies and so they can sip and stroll and just get caught up in the spirit of Christmas.”

Sereda wants to support artists by giving them another venue to sell their work without needing to be present which is why she opened Hunt’s Point for the Holidays.

After putting out the call on social media offering space to artisans the pop-up shop features the talents of 26 artists from the region and across the Atlantic provinces.

“Part of me thinks I’m a little bit crazy and the other part of me thinks, well, we’ll just throw it out there and see. It’s unbelievable because I’ve sold out of vendors," said Sereda. "That was my biggest fear, opening up a shop and not having anything in it.”

Sereda says she still gets calls from people wishing she had opened the Liverpool location.

While she is disappointed she couldn’t make it work, the pop-up shop is a version of what she had in mind for the United church.

“It was quite crushing because I felt we were so welcomed. The committee that was in charge of the decommissioning process and getting the right person in there, they were so embracing of the idea, and I think it was a perfect alignment with what they had envisioned," said Sereda. "But you know, in a perfect world at the end of the day, because I have such a high bar of what I want to deliver if I couldn't financially pull it off it was just best to not, you know? And I would hate to have started it and not have been able to follow through and then had to sell it or something.”

Sereda says the Hunt’s Point for the Holidays pop-up shop will be a good pilot and a fresh opportunity to see if there is an appetite for a venue like this in Queens.

“My hope and dream is to be able to ultimately land on a venue where I can do multipurpose things like this but also have, like I'm a foodie too, so to have really nice cultivated food and connectivity and engagement and experiential things for people in the community.”

Hunt’s Point for the Holiday will be open every Saturday and Sunday leading into Christmas beginning this weekend.

More information can be found on their Facebook page.

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