Is Temporary Retail Space Here To Stay?

With the holiday season in full force, consumers are shopping for items such as Halloween costumes, presents and heavily discounted goods. They are buying thru familiar channels like shopping malls, big box stores and online. However, there is one other way holiday spenders might consider parting away with their cash and that is through pop-up stores. In this article, I will briefly describe what a pop-up store is, who benefits from opening one and what the specific benefits are.

What is a pop-up store?

A pop-up store is a temporary brick-and-mortar retailer, which seemingly sprout out of nowhere – hence their name “pop-up.” They are seasonal in nature, typically lasting from one day to three months and usually during the holiday months (October to December). These temporary stores tend to be located next to or nearby similar stores. They tend to be located in shopping malls or in high traffic (auto & pedestrian) streets. Pop-ups are normally associated with selling fashion, but also can be used to sell virtually anything. They don't even have to be stationary, pop-up trucks can move to where foot traffic is high in real-time.

Why do retailers open pop-up stores?

Pop-up shops sometimes sell seasonal items, such as Halloween costumes. In Westwood, on the corner of Westwood and Kinross, a costume store opens up during the Halloween season, enabling shop owners to capitalize on people’s desire to dress up. Others bring novelties or non-mainstream items to their pop-ups.

 As mentioned in our e-commerce article, one of the strategies that brick-and-mortars are using to combat e-commerce is to participate in e-commerce themselves. Well it seems that online retailers are moving into physical stores as well. Revolve Clothing opened a pop-up showing off its clothing at The Grove earlier this month. Other online stores have opened pop-ups such as Google, PayPal, eBay and Amazon.com. Zappos is opening a pop-up in Downtown Las Vegas for just over a month, coinciding with the holiday season. This gives shoe shoppers the opportunity to try on the merchandise before they purchase it, something they could not do online. Additionally, the use of attention-grabbing signs can help online brands attract passersby who were previously unaware of the brand.

Who can benefit from pop-up stores?

Everyone! As we have mentioned above, online retailers are benefiting from opening pop-ups by getting great exposure. The benefits of opening pop-up stores are not limited to retailers. Landlords and commercial real estate agents who sign pop-up lease deals certainly profit as well. For example, vacant spaces may benefit from having temporary tenants. Although pop-up rents are often significantly cheaper than multiyear leases, lessors, lessees and agents benefit because they are filling up space that would otherwise be empty. Because the pop-up’s interior is filled with merchandise, then it may actually be used as a marketing tool to help lease the property for the long term. A furnished retail location helps paint a clearer picture that it is possible to conduct business at the location. This is analogous to residential real estate, where a furnished house for sale will sell faster than one without. Consumers also benefit from the additional shopping option – especially if the store features items that are interesting & difficult to obtain otherwise.

Based on the many benefits of pop-up retail, do you think temporary spaces are here to stay? Comment below, we’d like to hear your point of view.