Come one, come all: Brookfield is accepting applications now for its Brookfield Shops retail incubator program launching June 15, and village officials want you — yes, you, reading this right now — to throw your hat in the ring.
Brookfield officials are inviting residents who are interested in opening their own retail storefront on weekends or having a say on who fills those storefronts to apply for a spot in the shops or on the selection jury, respectively, by Saturday, Feb. 15.
Each of the six vendors chosen from applicants by a jury of residents will run their own storefront on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from June 15 to Dec. 15. Credit: Stella Brown 
Three of the sheds face Grand Boulevard (depicted) while three face Washington Avenue. All six are located in Progress Park at Eight Corners. Credit: Stella Brown
Business and Economic Development Coordinator Deanne Adasiak told the Landmark the best candidates for the shops are people who have an idea for a retail business they’re ready to act on.
“We are looking for someone that is at the step where they want to open a storefront, but they’re not there yet,” she said. “This is a smaller scale, more economically feasible, so someone should have their business financials in place, what they’re projecting [and] what they need for their product. As far as the application, the only other item that someone might not have is a business plan, so we did add a generic business plan template for the vendors that are applying to use as a guide.”
She said everyone who submits an application for a storefront will advance to the jury selection, where each applicant will have about 10 minutes to share their idea in a “‘Shark Tank’ type of pitch.”
On the flipside, the village is also seeking applicants to fill out that jury. For that position, Adasiak said, the barrier to entry is lower.
“The application’s very basic,” she said. “Just, who you are in the community? What do you envision for Brookfield Shops? We’re hoping to get a diverse group, though: maybe a business owner, maybe a resident, maybe someone that’s a commissioner. We’re hoping that we get a couple of different types of people in here to vote on who should be selected to be in the shed.”
So far, she said, the village has received about five applications from potential vendors and just one from an interested juror. She said officials hope to have about 20 vendors competing for the six sheds and seven jurors making the final choices. Officials have yet to decide if vendor applicants who are not selected for a storefront get any kind of priority for the next cohort in 2026, she said.
The village has hosted two informational sessions about the shops with a third virtual session scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 21. Adasiak said residents who attended the first two sessions, and who have commented on social media, have mostly given positive feedback. She said some attendees were interested in applying but unsure if they could commit to running the shop every weekend or if their business would qualify.
She said officials made the call to only allow retail businesses for the first cohort this year and that they may consider allowing those providing a service to apply next year.
“For example, there was a dance instructor that wanted to come in the sheds. She thought it would be perfect, but we’re not doing any service type of businesses at this point,” she said.
She said vendors seeking to sell food would be allowed but would have to produce their food products off-site and sell them prepackaged.
She said she and other officials were initially worried by the low number of applications received so far but that they expect more to come in as the deadline approaches.
“I talked to Gina Sharenow, who runs the farmers market, and she said, ‘Dee, the last week, you’re going to get inundated with applications,’” Adasiak said. “‘I deal with the farmers market every year, and they sprinkle in slowly, and then I get hit at the end.’ It’s exciting. We have five [applicants]; they’re all very different right now, but we’re hoping for at least 15 more.”
