As the world shut down in 2020 due the COVID-19 pandemic, a new world and community opened for Josh and Mandi Cameron, the proud owners of Pop’s Midtown store. 

Rewind to six months prior to the pandemic shut down. Josh had been working for a local nonprofit and Mandi was running a premier party bus company she had built from the ground up and was also teaching hot pilates classes in midtown. “COVID hit, so not a good time for party buses or a gym,” said Mandi. 

Josh said he remembered them sitting down and saying, “Okay let’s deal with this. We’re home. Neither of us can work. What are we going to do with this situation?”

They began to think back to Mandi’s roots. Josh and Mandi met while living in Los Angeles, and moved to Mobile to start and raise their family. Mandi is originally from the Mobile area and comes from a long line of farmers and small business owners. With the idea for a pop-up produce stand in the front yard of their midtown home, they decided to venture out and begin their own small business.

 

The Fruit Stand 

“What’s more Alabama than putting a fruit stand in front of your house?” Mandi said with a laugh. 

Her family has a long history of sharing produce in the Mobile community and own the local farmers market. “40 years before that, my grandmother had fields in her back yard where she would pick [produce], load up her buggy and drive it downtown. This has always been in my background but I never thought that I would do anything with it,” said Mandi.

The Camerons knew the season when farmers would have the best produce available was approaching, but the farmers had no way of selling to their usual markets due to national supply chain issues at the time.

They made the decision to buy everything wholesale and see how it went. They chose southern Alabama favorites such as Chilton County peaches, Grand Bay watermelons and local tomatoes. “All the good stuff,” said Mandi.

In a time when the world was shrinking and shutting down, the Camerons community expanded beyond their wildest dreams. Through the produce stand, they were able to make deeper connections with their neighbors than they ever had before. “We were able to really talk to our neighbors. We got to know them beyond a ‘good morning’ and a ‘hey, have a good evening,”’ she said.

What they originally thought was just going to last a few weeks soon became a few months. Word began to spread about a pop-up produce stand in midtown and soon people were coming in from all over the surrounding areas. “People were driving from Semmes at one point. Just because their friend had told them about us,” Mandi said.

Josh said, “The amazing thing about this whole thing was the organic feel and community support. You would look outside and families would be out there walking down the street. We were able to talk to people from a socially safe distance and have this face-to-face interaction that you couldn’t have anywhere else.”

They had more than one person come up to them and let them know that going to the pop-stand was their one thing that they looked forward to every week. “The beauty of that really kept us going,” said Mandi.

 

Pumpkins and Christmas Trees and Beads, Oh My!

Summer produce eventually runs out, so the Camerons began brainstorming what they could naturally pop-up next that would mesh well with produce. From those conversations, the idea for the pumpkin patch was born.

“We had already created this little ‘family’ gathering or community fabric and we wanted to cater to them what’s next. We were able to say we have a pumpkin patch and we want to see them again,” said Josh.

They were trying to think of spots due to the fact that they had outgrown their front yard and midtown street. “God bless our neighbors,” they both said with a laugh. Their neighbors rallied around them and their two young children with a third on the way. Mandi recounted, “We did not know what our future held. They would show up with dinner on a long, hot day more times than I can count. They’re just amazing people and we love them.”

The Camerons discussed several places that might be a good place to set up shop. There was one building that they would pass by every day that seemed like the perfect solution: the old Ward’s Army Navy store. “You know that somebody is from Mobile if they know what this building was,” Mandi quipped, “The whole exterior was painted camouflage and kids loved to come here. Just like they love to come to Pop’s Midtown!” They ventured out to ask if they could lease out the outdoor area for a pop-up pumpkin patch. 

Josh said, “It’s not easy to take risks when you have a family. The support from this community made us really feel like we could go out on that ledge and continue to try to realize this dream of being local business owners in this community.”

It was with the drive to stay in the community that they kept coming up with ideas for more seasonal pop-ups. Through the support of the community, they had the confidence to continue into the next holiday season and sell Christmas trees in the outdoor space. 

They did not expand into the Mardi Gras season until their second year of business.  “Luckily Mandi’s family has good roots in this community. It was a relationship that we were able to connect on and use to gather enough product for that first Mardi Gras season,” Josh explained. To accommodate all the Mardi Gras supply, they began renting the brick-and-mortar building. The first year they predominantly focused on throws. Over the next few years they have expanded their product lines to apparel and novelty items.

Mandi said, “It’s an honor to be in this iconic Mobile building and it’s an honor to be a part of the oldest Mardi Gras celebration in the country. We don’t take that lightly.”

 

Pop’s Midtown: More Than a Store

Josh explained, “Here is the story of Pop’s. It was a little pop-up produce stand in front of our house. Then we popped up a pumpkin patch. Then we popped up a Christmas tree farm. Then we waited and we popped up a Mardi Gras store. We stuck with the name Pop’s for those reasons and we call Mandi’s father poppy and my father papa.” 

Mandi added on, “My grandfather’s name was papaw. He was the patriarch of the family and was just a working man who was incredibly business-minded. He could get everything done. It just made sense to us to call it Pop’s from the beginning as an ode to whoever that person may be in all of our lives.”

The Camerons emphasized that Pop’s Midtown is supposed to be a fun place. Kids and families love to go to Pop’s. Josh said, “We have families come in who know our kids. We know their kids. We luckily get to see them season after season. Year after year.”

Pop’s is more than just a seasonal pop-up shop. Whether it is hosting a family fun day in the pumpkin patch, running around in the (fake) snow through Christmas trees or exploring the Mardi Gras store, the Camerons want to give the families of Mobile an experience and well-loved traditions for every season, year after year. 

“The South is special,” said Josh, who is originally from Syracuse, NY. “There’s southern love everywhere you go. You really can’t avoid it. I love the fact that I am a part of this community. I am grateful everyday. People ask me ‘how are you?’ ‘How’s it going?’ I say well you’re here. You walked through the door. That mean’s everything is going great.”

 

What’s Next?

You will be able to catch the Camerons during the parades. They are popping up in front of Dauphin Street Sound at 651 Dauphin Street.

After Mardi Gras season ends they will roll into their full blown garden center. They will have annuals, indoor plants, outdoor plants, full shade plants and a little bit of everything. They buy from local growers and also fly down to Florida seeking out rare plants to bring back to Mobile.

Don’t want the good times to stop rolling? While all their other pop-ups are seasonal, the Mardi Gras store stays open all year round. 

Remember, for every season there is a reason to shop at Pop’s.