Pop-up stores take over empty Ilot Sacré restaurants

A string of pop-up stores have opened their doors this week in downtown Brussels, as part of a major regeneration of Rue des Bouchers and the Ilot Sacré.

The project, called Pimp My Street, aims to give an inviting new look to an area known in the past for its tourist trap restaurants, chaotic street terraces and vigorous touting.

The clean-up of the neighbourhood, just east of the Grand-Place, is a City of Brussels effort spearheaded by alderwoman for economic affairs Marion Lemesre, who has hired curator Kunty Moureau to create the pop-up stores in several empty units on the Petite Rue des Bouchers.

"The purpose is to reinvigorate the street with designer and art products mixing all kinds of creativity," Moureau told The Bulletin. "The city is furnishing the spaces and all the infrastructure free of charge to support the creators by giving them a place to exhibit."

By creating a unified look for the storefronts, with identical neon Pimp My Street signs and scrubbed façades, she has given the street an inviting clean look in which Belgian designers, creators and artisans of watch design, jewellery, clothes, objects/accessories, chocolate, woodworking, contemporary art, furniture, graphic and craft design, photography and interior design can showcase their wares and services. Pimp My Street runs until 7 January.

The long-term aim is to make the Ilot Sacré a neighborhood that locals will frequent again as well as tourists.