Fans of Flax Art & Design, which closed its Market Street flagship store in March, are in for a happy surprise: The art supply store will reopen in its former space as a temporary pop-up, starting this Thursday.

Flax moved its headquarters to a larger space in Oakland to make way for a nine-story housing development, but according to store owner Howard Flax, the demolition of the existing building at 1699 Market St. has been delayed until September. A lease for Flax has been reinstated, with a 30-day notice addendum for the shop to move out when construction on the new development gets the green light.

"It's a bit of an encore," Flax told us. "We had to leave in a hasty fashion, and didn't have much of a sale."

"Sale" is going to be the key word for the temporary return of Flax at its original location. The shop will only carry discounted items, and once it sells out of something, chances are it won't return.

The large paper room will be making a comeback of sorts: the shop will be bringing back its $1 paper sale. Paints, brushes, stationery, picture frames and pads of paper will also be in stock. "As long as we have a compelling selection of items, we'll keep it going until construction mandates we move," Flax told us.

Starting tomorrow, hours will be 9:30am to 6pm, Wednesday through Saturday (closed Sunday-Tuesday).

"I'm at the store all the time, and people show up and look disappointed that we're closed," Flax said. "Now I can tell them we're opening again."