Meet Good Goods, an Urban-X company trying to reshape shopping IRL

Rent may be the single biggest factor in the lives of many New Yorkers. It impacts where you live and what jobs you take and, in the world of startups, how you can sell to your customers.

One company in Greenpoint accelerator Urban-X is trying to solve that problem for ecommerce companies, by offering them a share of a retail space. They’re called Good Goods, and we met them at the accelerator’s debut of new startups in September,

Founded by Rosa Ng and Eric Ho, Good Goods just opened its first location on Prince St. in SoHo. The startup joins Bulletin in what increasingly looks like an emerging market. The idea behind coworking for retailing, or co-retail, is that one brand doesn’t need to rent the whole store. In turn, the store owner can attract brands like a boutique, but need not take the risk of overhead.

The following Q&A with the founders has been lightly edited for length.

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What was the problem you saw that you set out to solve?

Rising rents make it virtually impossible for resource-strapped emerging brands to create exposure for their content and products: retail leases are expensive, wholesale terms are prohibitive and there is no turnkey solution to create direct-to-consumer retail experiences. Building long lasting relationships and experiences that resonate with customers requires space, and business intelligence, all of which are minimally accessible, whether based on cost alone or a combination of cost and access.

How are you solving it?

We are a space-as-a-service platform for emerging and established brands that offers access to serviced spaces through seasonal membership. Our goal is to lower the entry barrier for online and emerging brands to access direct to consumer opportunities.

Our vision for Good Goods is a shared network of spaces that function as a collaborative retail laboratory that generates insights around the future of retail in urban settings, beginning with retail environments and eventually moving into co-working communities, production spaces, and living spaces.

Who are your founders?

Eric is an architect who is passionate specifically about architecture that have a lasting impact on society. Leaving his architecture career after 8 years as a registered architect, Eric founded MILES three years ago to create accessible commercial storefront spaces for makers, creators, entrepreneurs and community. The New York Times generated a special report on Eric through his way of activating spaces in the LES and named him the “Pop-up Activist.”

Rosa was trained as a fashion designer specializing in knitwear technology and development. Rosa has worked for domestic and international fashion brands such as Alexander McQueen, Jason Wu, Kate Spade, Calvin Klein Collection and more. She launched Young & Able three years ago with the mission of helping creative small business build brand awareness digitally and physically through storytelling by way of written interviews, photos, video content, hands-on creative workshops, and women focused pop-up shops.

What are you hoping to get out of being in the Urban-X accelerator?

We are excited about the vision of URBAN-X towards cities and how we shape cities with technology and new systems. We are passionate about streetscapes and storefronts in cities, and how they help shape a more authentic and collaborative culture. We see ourselves as urban innovators rather than just retail innovators, as we are working on how to make cities as a more equitable place for emerging brands and entrepreneurs. This extends from a storefront, to a street, to a neighborhood and to a network of neighborhoods and cities.