StartupCincy hosting pop-up market at Liberty Center

For the first time ever, StartupCincy's digital entrepreneurs will take their products out of online shopping carts and straight to the shelves at Liberty Center on Thursday. For one month, Greater Cincinnati will have the chance to shop inventory created by builders right here in their own backyard. The five companies participating in the inaugural Liberty Pop Up Market include: Zeus and Blu, Soapy Soap Company, OROS, OkeyDokey and GoSun Inc. The weekend market (Thursdays through Sundays) will be located in the Foundry Building near Dick's Sporting Goods and run from Thursday, Dec. 7 through Sunday, Dec. 24 during Liberty Center's regular hours. "Liberty Center and its Community Foundation have supported local businesses since we opened in 2015," said Kevin Cedik, general manager of Liberty Center. "The Liberty Pop Up Market will offer a new and exciting shopping experience for our guests while continuing to support local entrepreneurs." Born from nothing more than a social media hashtag, strung together from a group of bootstrapping entrepreneurs, #StartupCincy was merely a way of staying connected to the community on Twitter in the early 2010s. Fast-forward less than a decade later and StartupCincy has transformed into a community of entrepreneurs, BigCos, educators, investors, students, creatives and enthusiasts with a mission to build a sustainable, tech-based economy for Greater Cincinnati. "This is a new challenge for our digitally native brands, entering the retail scene in the midst of the holiday shopping season," said Wendy Lea, CEO of Cintrifuse. "Normally found through clicks on the web, these StartupCincy brands now have the opportunity to engage with our community in a retail environment."