Miami Fashion Week has never had a store. This week it opens one, for three days, at 350 Miracle Mile in downtown Coral Gables, where more than 20 designer labels will sell ready-to-wear, eveningwear, handbags, shoes and jewelry from Friday, Oct. 16, through Sunday, Oct. 18.

A first for the festival, on the Mile

For a decade, Miami Fashion Week has been something most residents watched from the outside: runway shows, a gala, industry panels. For its 10th anniversary, the festival is trying something it has not done before, a shopping pop-up where anyone can walk in, meet the people who made the clothes and leave with something in a bag. The organizers describe it as their first ever shopping experience, and they chose Miracle Mile to host it rather than a hotel or a convention hall.

The pop-up is a partnership with Stitch Lab, a Miami platform that describes itself as the leading showcase for Latin American fashion in the U.S. and stages pop-up markets where shoppers can discover designers in fashion, beauty and lifestyle. Bringing that format to the Gables puts it on a walkable retail street with restaurants, the Miracle Theatre and the Coral Gables Museum all within a few blocks.

When to go

Thursday, Oct. 15, 6:30 p.m.: An opening evening at 350 Miracle Mile, presented and hosted by Terranova.

Friday, Oct. 16, to Sunday, Oct. 18, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.: Shopping hours each day at the same address.

Sunday, Oct. 18, noon: A runway show from designer Sitka Semsch on Miracle Mile, the only show of the anniversary week staged in Coral Gables. The festival has not posted the exact spot along the street, so check miamifashionweek.com before you head over.

Who is selling

The lineup reads like a tour of Latin American design. Labels on the festival's list include NNT, Amarante, IT Shoes, Entos, Ana + Maria, Marea Alta, Paola Pacheco, Francesca Miranda, Maria Angelica Guerra, Muzaluci, Pampa, Adriana Fernandez, Nerea, Ojo de Leon, Beatriz de la Camara, Renata Lozano, Alta Shoes, Adriana Cobo and Hara.

Several of the names will be familiar if you follow the week's runway schedule. Vero Diaz and Yenny Bastida show their collections at the Freedom Tower downtown on Saturday night before or after their racks go up on the Mile. Jenny Polanco shows in Coconut Grove on Thursday. Andres Otalora headlines the opening gala in Miami Beach. And Jhoan Sebastian Grey, who won the festival's new Virtual Fashion Awards competition, gets both a Friday runway slot and space in the pop-up.

That overlap is the real draw. Most of these labels are hard to find on a Miami clothing rack on a normal weekend, and the festival says shoppers will be able to meet the designers in person.

Why the timing works

Mid-October is about when Gables residents start thinking about holiday parties, wedding season and the cooler weeks when a jacket finally makes sense. A three day market of eveningwear and accessories from independent Latin American designers lands at the right moment. It is also a weekend when downtown already has a reason to be busy: the city's Halloween season begins Saturday, Oct. 17, with a pumpkin patch at Ponce Circle Park from 2 to 6 p.m., featuring pumpkin decorating, face painting, live music and a harvest market. A morning on the Mile and an afternoon at the pumpkin patch is an easy Saturday with kids in tow.

The bigger week around it

The anniversary edition runs Oct. 13 to 18 across the county. Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago is among the speakers at the festival's opening press event at the Freedom Tower on Tuesday morning, and Miracle Mile is the only Coral Gables address on the official program. Runway nights at the Freedom Tower are Friday and Saturday, and a free day of panels, the MIAFW Summit, takes place Wednesday at Miami Dade College's Wolfson Campus.

Tickets for the runway shows and the gala are sold through the festival's Eventbrite page, linked from its ticket page. The festival has not said whether the pop-up requires advance registration or an entry fee, so check Stitch Lab or the festival site before you go.

What it means for the Mile

Miracle Mile has always been the Gables' main street for shopping and a night out. A fashion week choosing it for its first ever retail event is a quiet vote of confidence in the street as a place where people still come to shop in person. For residents, it is a chance to buy something you will not see on anyone else at the next party, from the person who designed it, a short walk from home.