Richard Seesel

Piperlime 3-D: The Store Pops Up

August 12, 2010

FROM RETAILWIRE:
In a world where pop-up stores seem to come out of nowhere, another has its sites set on Manhattan and this time it's Piperlime. Piperlime? Yes, Gap Inc.'s online-only business is heading for a September 9 opening in SoHo just in time for Fashion Week. What do you think of the approach Piperlime is taking with its pop-up store in New York?      [more...]

Pop-up stores have become a great tool for creating brand awareness and for driving traffic to retailers' websites. And, most noticeably in the case of Target, Manhattan-based pop-up stores become precursors to successful brick-and-mortar locations. So it's possible that Piperlime has an agenda other than simply driving website traffic and awareness: To experiment with concepts that would work in a physical store.

Piperlime's primary focus on branded shoes makes it a much different kind of business than other Gap divisions, but also provides potential future competition for DSW nationwide.