There’s a craze sweeping the land and its name is Pop-up.

Fashion, food and anything in between has been struck by this fad that seems to be here to stay.
Let’s jump back a bit before we get into the concept of a pop-up shop. First there was the old school brick and mortar shop. By the way - the term “Brick and Mortar” is first recorded as being used by Charles Dickens in the book Little Dorrit. Crazy but true!

Brick and Mortar & the Food Truck

So Brick and Mortar - or a real world physicla presence in a building is a store where products are sold. It’s stationary, present for a long period of time and generally made from sturdy stuff like, you guessed it, bricks and mortar.

Then further down the line you get a food truck. The food truck is a great invention and can be summed up as food on the move. A caravan is converted by a foodie into a kitchen that serves food straight out of the back or sides. You’ll see them pop up all over places like New York.

The Pop-Up Shop

In my mind, the pop-up shop is somewhere in between the two of these. It’s a temporary store in temporary location and is often refered to as Flash Retailing.

Often these stores will emerge or pop-up in between rentals. Basically when a property owner cannot find a long-term lease, they’ll let a smaller retailer open up a temporary store to generate sales until the land lord can find a permanent tennant. Occasionally these pop-up shops will becomepermanent due to the success of the store.

Not Just for Hipsters

Now this might sound like some hippy-dippy craziness but the concept is great and has been utilised by large players in the online space as well as emerging retailers to make a statement. Companies like ebay have thrown up pop-up stores. Puma, Adidas and many other sporting brands have erected physical spaces in and around buzzing open areas to place their products in the places with the most foot traffic to gain the most exposure for their products.

All in all, pop-up stores can be exciting ways to discover new products and for smaller retailers to gain a bit of exposure.

Keep an eye out - you never know when you’ll see a sock-up store popping up!