Small business vendors from around Greater Rochester are part of a Saturday “Good Vibes Pop-Up Shops” event at The Metropolitan on Clinton Avenue in downtown Rochester.
The special small business pop-up sale will feature all kinds of creative and crafty entrepreneurs, including Natalie Rae New York. Her hospitality career took her Dubai for a couple of years. From there she got the travel bug and fell in love with Vietnam, its people and the fabrics they hand-make there.
“I was just in awe that the Hmong people make everything and it is so beautiful,” said Natalie Rae. “It started with a pillowcase for myself and a bag. I continued on with my travels and it was in the back of my mind like, ‘oh, I wonder if other people would appreciate wearing this beautiful fabric and learning about the story.”‘
That’s when she decided to go for it and started her small business, Natalie Rae New York. She turns those Vietnam fabrics into colorful and functional totes, decorative pillows, bright clutches and one-of-a-kind home decor items. You can find her products online, on Etsy, at Panache in Brighton, Little Button in Rochester, the Shops on West Ridge in Greece and Purple Moon Cottage in Fairport.
Rae says it’s the festivals she misses the most. COVID-19 put a stop to travel to Vietnam and canceled dozens of festivals, so she put together the Good Vibes Pop-Up Shops and invited 30 other vendors.
“This is the second year that vendors and small business owners like myself who do not have a storefront are really hurting, so we are trying to keep the businesses going,” said Rae. “So I decided to put on my own festival because we need to continue.”
The Good Vibes Pop-Up Shops is Saturday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at The Metropolitan, the former Chase Tower, at 1 Clinton Avenue in downtown Rochester.
