Shop Owners Plan For A New 'Neighborhood Shopping Experience' for Downtown

Call it the Gateway neighborhood, 49,000-square-feet of building space just off the IDL in Downtown Tulsa.

It's starting to fill with tenants and there is plenty of room for growth.

Mary Beth Babcock, the force behind Dwelling spaces, said when the chance came to start a new business here, she just couldn't say no.

"It's like a new chapter, a new chapter in life," Babcock said. 

POST opened in November and in a couple of weeks, the space next to it will open its doors to Tulsa as 'First Street Flea.'

"I'm walking back and forth and I'm like, 'oh, my gosh! This room is incredible! Something needs to happen in here,'" Babcock said. 

Shane Hood of First Street Flea said they're moving in on an area of Tulsa that's been idle. 

"It is on the very edge of downtown and kind of an area that hasn't been used for anything yet or in a long time makes it exciting," said Hood.

Twenty to 25 vendors will set up shop twice a month offering everything from vintage furniture to jewelry to coffee to records, being sold by Debbie Massey and her husband.

"It's fun for the customers and that is what I look forward to is the customers having fun doing it," Massey said.

Other tenants said they have plans not only for the inside space, but for Tulsa as well.

"We want it to grow just outside of this room into not just this room but a market that offers interesting local stuff from Tulsa," Hood said. 

With both POST and First Street Flea ready to go, that still leaves tens of thousands of square feet left to develop in the historic 1920s building.

"We connect with East Village and East Edge and Blue Dome and everybody, so its just another great community place to go with all local people that's how Utica Square started," said building owner Michael Sager. 

And now, the start for a new neighborhood shopping experience for Downtown Tulsa.