Most everyone is relatively familiar with the seasonal holiday store, a retail location that sells merchandise related to a short season rather than a full year. These seasonal stores are part of a larger group less familiar to most of us: the pop-up store. The term “pop-up store,” true to its name, describes a store that pops up for a short period of time before quickly closing. Recently, a new breed of pop-up store has emerged, acting as a sort of advertisement rather than an actual shop. The roots of the pop-up store, however, remain in holiday shopping.
Pop-up stores selling traditional holiday merchandise are open only for their season, selling as much merchandise as possible to quickly benefit from holiday retail surges. After the holiday season has passed, these stores pack up all objects in the shop, to be stored for the remainder of the year. The stores then move out of their locations, spending the rest of the year dealing with office work such as unemployment and tax reports.
In order to better compete with traditional retail stores, pop-up stores often strive to create a unique environment related to the season for their customers. Val Cohn of Spirit Halloween states, “We try to create a really fun atmosphere for our customers. It’s not just stuff on a shelf.” This atmosphere is created through the spooky music and miniature haunted house that greet customers as they enter the store. In addition, despite their temporary nature, seasonal pop-up stores often have roots in the community, engaging in philanthropic activities such as “Spirit of Children,” which is dedicated to making hospital stays less scary for children. This charity donates money and hosts a Halloween party for area hospitals, giving back to the community despite the stores’ transience.
Recently, many retailers have been using the pop-up store for purposes other than seasonal revenue surges. Increasingly, temporary stores are being used to generate publicity and popularity for a brand or product; rather than the traditional seasonal retail location, pop-up stores have become a sort of advertisement. Because these stores are open for such a short time period, a sense of urgency is created, making for lots of sales and public exposure. A pop-up store is therefore able to create as much consumer hype as an average advertisement while also generating revenue and allowing customers to touch and see products in person. This type of pop-up store is even more temporary than conventional ones; the community roots found in seasonal stores are absent in these newer shops. Despite, or perhaps because of, this temporary nature, companies ranging from airlines to bookstores have begun to utilize the pop-up store as an advertisement, departing from the traditional holiday shop.
The pop-up store is likely to continue its evolution, perhaps becoming a widespread phenomenon. On the other hand, perhaps it is only a fleeting trend, destined to disappear as quickly as it began. Here today, gone tomorrow: Such is the nature of the pop-up store.
