ROCKLAND — A pop-up shop, the hot, new trend of opening a temporary retail store, has come to Rockland’s Main Street this holiday season, and it is benefiting several island micro-businesses, as well as local artisans.

Fox I Printworks, a North Haven silk-screen and letterpress studio whose successful Kickstarter campaign we previously wrote about, opened a shop Nov. 15 and plans to stay open through Christmas Eve.

“We don’t get a lot of foot traffic this time of year around North Haven,” said Claire Donnelly, co-owner of Fox I Printworks. “So, we’d been scheming for awhile that we wanted to do this.”

The idea around a pop-up shop is to “test-drive” the market before committing to a long-term lease, which is an ideal way for a micro-business without a lot of capital to get a feel for the market.

She said: “This space was so much bigger than our studio on North Haven. We thought how cool would it be to bring in locally-made stuff, much of it made on other islands, as well.”

The pop-shop at 464 Main Street has been artistically transformed from a former jeweler’s space to a rustic showroom, using many donated elements from friends and the islands.

The retro puffy chairs came from one of Fox I’s team members.

“It wasn’t easy,” said Donnelly.  “We had to bring them from Vinalhaven across the thoroughfare, then load them onto the ferry and lug them over here.”

Along with potted pine trees and giant marshmallows decorating the display window, the shop repurposes block and tackle pulleys, apple boxes, window baskets and an old splintery ladder to offset the handmade items.

Fox I's products, with their quirky screened T-shirts, pillows, hats and leather goods, line much of the wall space. The interior of the store features ceramics, jewelry, handmade longboard decks, recycled lobster rope mats, coffee, goat milk soap and encaustic art.

The other artists consign their products to Fox I’s owners.

“It gives them exposure, which in turn, gives us exposure,” Donnelly said.

Fox I's pop-up shop is the latest example of small businesses from Maine's islands using creative, low-cost initiatives to reach larger retail markets.

In October, Deer Isle-based coffee roaster 44 North participated in a pop-up shop in Boston.

Vinalhaven-based Green Granite Soap is a sponsor of Fox I's pop-up.

And in Gardiner, several pop-up businesses have opened for the holiday season, thanks to an initiative by Gardiner Main Street.

“We’ve seen a lot of small businesses doing this model through Instagram,” she said.

Fox I’s other co-owner, Sam Hallowell, has a full-time job running operations on Hurricane Island, so Donnelly is the face of the pop-up shop this season. She said that they will use this experience to determine whether they will come back as a pop-up shop next year or on a more permanent basis.

After their grand opening celebration Friday, Nov 21, from 4-6 p.m., the next public event will be Saturday, Dec. 6: Live Screen Printing! Print your own holiday poster, 11 a.m.–3 p.m.