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Linda Levine knew she had a product people liked, but the MBA graduate from Northeastern University had no retail experience. So she tested her business, Artists See Boston, by renting a pushcart in Faneuil Hall Marketplace.
That was 10 years ago, when she paid about $1,400 in monthly rent; Levine says she was profitable from the start.
Her rent now averages $3,200 monthly (about $28.60 per square foot) and she's still profitable - but Levine admits in recent years business is down 10 percent to 20 percent. So she's added tote bags to the artistrendered portraits of Boston that she sells in the form of notecards and prints.
"It has helped," she says.
Faneuil Hall, the city's No. 1 tourist destination, is synonymous with pushcarts. When Faneuil Hall Marketplace opened as a premier outdoor retailer in 1976, pushcarts were - and still are - an integral part of the retail culture. Faneuil Hall, owned by Chicago-based General Growth Properties Inc., operates 38 pushcarts in the winter and 45 in the summer.
Retail experts say, and pushcart owners agree, that pushcarts are an excellent way for wannabe retailers to test their products in the...