303 Grand Street: A Versatile Solution to the Recession

303 Grand is a small storefront, nestled half-way down the block on Grand and Havemeyer streets. But make no mistake: It is much more than just a storefront. 303 Grand Street functions as a community space; an art gallery; a boutique; a revolving storefront for a variety of designers, craftspeople, companies and small businesses; an entrepreneurial resource and pretty much everything in between. And it’s important to be versatile in these trying economic times: If something doesn’t work, just switch it out for something else. And while businesses are failing left and right, 303 Grand Street’s no-lease model affords entrepreneurs, artists and businesses and product brands alike the flexibility to take the storefront for a test drive before investing long-term. The added bonus? The space even comes with its own marketing team—included in the rental cost—to assist your every endeavor, whatever it may be.
“It’s a space, but with a built-in marketing team. It truly is an alternative model,” explained Ruth Heronemus, one of the owners of 303 Grand Street. “We do all different kinds of marketing here, from street teaming, sampling, digital programming for start-up companies, and we also do our own programming. For this space, we wanted to have an experiential marketing environment to match our alternative approach.”
303 Grand is an incarnation of Street Attack, a Boston-based alternative marketing company specializing in digital and online PR. Just two months ago, Street Attack launched 303 Grand Street, with 15 days of original programming, called Choice, that included film screenings, art gallery shows, a flea market and the launch of a brand new small designer’s clothing line—all in-house, and all for free, inviting community members and passersby inside to join the fun. In addition to their own programs, the marketing masterminds at 303 Grand work closely with individuals, businesses and brands to transform the space into whatever it needs to be, from a designer boutique to sell a hot new line of clothing, to a yoga studio offering free classes in order to better brand a line of tea, to a makeshift wedding salon and chapel in which couples will actually be married.
“We want brands to come in, and then we can cater some sort of pop-up shop or store or event experience to be able to connect with the consumers in this area of Brooklyn,” Heronemus said. “Whenever somebody wants to use the space, we take care of contacting the press, doing extensive digital PR and outreach, facebook invites, twitter, and everything else to make everyone in the community aware of what’s happening here. For example, in September, we have a bank coming, and they want to connect to the consumers living in Williamsburg, and they want to do something cool but don’t know what to do. So, we will create an entire campaign, and execute it. We have in-house designers, sampling teams and ambassadors, and we will assemble an entire campaign and expand out from our space.”
Most recently, 303 Grand hosted a piece of original programming: A three-day pop-up shop called Thanks Mom!—just in time for Mother’s Day—specializing in holiday-appropriate cards and gifts.

In addition, 303 hosts a monthly industry-driven lecture series called Show and Tell, featuring mercifully short panel discussions followed by free cocktails and an opportunity for community members to mix, mingle and talk about a particular topic.
“The marketing approach that we take really depends on the client, but we are also building 303 Grand as its own brand, so we have a following as well,” Heronemus said. “As an alternative marketing company, we strongly believe in being able to connect with people and add a personal touch to everything we do. We want to stay connected to the community.”
Apart from offering the community unique—and always free of charge—conceptual programming, 303 Grand is making a concerted effort to serve the Greenpoint/Williamsburg community in other ways: They often offer up their space to community-based groups, like the North Brooklyn Public Art Coalition (NBPAC), for meetings and events.
“We really like to let people use the space when it makes sense,” Heronemus said. “We like to stay as involved in the community as possible, because when it comes to marketing , we want it to be friendly, authentic and personal.” Although they’ve been open just shy of two months, 303 Grand is already knee-deep in projects, and receiving rave reviews from clients, customers and community members for their innovative, outrageous and adventurous marketing and programming approach.
Their next major endeavor will be the Pop-Up Wedding Chapel, a month-long project involving anything and everything wedding-related, from a bridal boutique to a makeshift nail salon to a DIY stationary workshop, all culminating in one week of real live weddings.
“I’m so excited,” gushed Heronemus. “It’s going to be like nothing anybody has ever seen before!”
Just like 303 Grand itself.