Stores Popping Up All Over the Place

It's a great way for a retailer, especially in a mall environment, to test the waters and see if their brand and product can be successful in a specific environment. While it may not be cheap, it doesn't come with the long-term lease agreements.

Scott Knaul, Director, Retail Strategic Services, Workforce Insight

Pop-up shops are here to stay (or so I say). We've done work for a long time with retailers who open up shops for just the Christmas selling season and who love it (after all, if you could be in business for just the best 7 weeks of the year, wouldn't you?).

There are always spaces available for these types of ventures, not just in tough economic times. Watch out...there's probably a pop-up shop opening in your neighbourhood soon! (lucky you!).

Kevin Graff, President, Graff Retail

I think we have a new economy that will have a continual flow of retail failures over the next several years. This will open up retail space. As more people lose their jobs and have no back-up plan, I would expect to see people raid their 401ks and purchase a franchise that advertises in the back of a business magazine. Naturally these people will fail as well, but they too will add to the pop-up craze. The Halloween stores and fireworks stands seem to have the most exposure. But look to see desperate people renting the cheapest space possible for their fly-by-night franchises as well (sub shops, coffee shops, etc).

David Livingston, Principal, DJL Research

As for true pop-up stores (those that are created for marketing purposes and to create buzz for a larger entity), I don't see them going away anytime soon; however, I also think that the new has worn off a bit on the concept. After all, if you do something "random" enough times, it ceases to be random!

I like the guerrilla pop-up concepts that Rei Kawakubo has master-minded for Comme des Garcons over the years (in truth, I like just about anything that she does), most recently, for the label's Black line.

Kawakubo is an artist in every sense of the word and these projects resemble carefully planned performance art more than they do contrived commercial ventures. To me, that is relevant and exciting.

Perhaps retailers would do well to break designers out of their one-off and/or proprietary brand silos and enlist them instead to co-create compelling pop-ups!

Carol Spieckerman, President, newmarketbuilders

The available space makes pop-ups a great way for retailers to test specific concepts, but the costs of build-out and tear-down mitigate against these stores being anything more than vehicles for testing.

Ted Hurlbut, Principal, Hurlbut & Associates

Pop-up stores are a win for everyone: shoppers, retailers and landlords. We're sure to see more permanent retail shops when the economy recovers, but meantime there is a great opportunity to experiment with store concepts and placement. A lot of learning can be achieved in this environment for savvy retailers. I believe this is the real value of today's pop-ups.

Liz Crawford, President, Crawford Consulting

Pop Up stores have a place, but it is limited. Some holiday stores would simply lose money the rest of the year and therefore are not viable. Target has done well with Pop Up stores for the Christmas season when their new store will not be opened in time. Otherwise, I think consumers distrust Pop Up stores. If something goes wrong with the purchase, who do you return it to?

W. Frank Dell II, CMC, President, Dellmart & Company

The problem with Pop up stores; locations that are not permanent are confounding to the consumer in a number of ways. If in this day and age where we are seeing a switch from acquisition marketing to a focus on engagement, retention, and loyalty the lack of a permanent location would lessen the ability for a merchant to create, engender and increase said loyalty, and actually when the temporary store is moved, and removed it will lessen the goodwill and engagement that may have been created and actually can create great damage to the brand when they are no longer accessible.

Mark Johnson, President and CEO, Loyalty 360

Pop-ups are great for testing the market. We've come up with a rolling vendor cart that eliminates the issues normally associated with set-up and tear-down. We can arrange the carts in different configurations and experiment with our displays. I can send more info and a picture if anyone is interested.

Barb Cooper, Marketing/Sales, Daisy Mae's Market