Pop-up stores seem to be popping up everywhere. The national retail vacancy rate is at a three-year high, so these temporary shops dropped into empty spaces have become an attractive option for both business owners and landlords. "It's a great way to market your products or your real estate," says Christina Norsig, CEO of PopUpInsider.com, a site that lists available pop-up locations. Here are four reasons entrepreneurs are opening pop-up stores.
1. To get the word out
Jason Revilla and Jim Grumbine were in New York City earlier this year when they stumbled upon some vacant retail spaces being used as pop-up stores. The two friends, co-founders of Faith & Fortune, a fledgling online apparel company, liked the idea and wanted to try something similar in their town of Beverly, Massachusetts.
In April, after six weeks of planning and scouting locations, the founders launched a pop-up store for Faith & Fortune on a main drag in Beverly. Their primary goal was to raise brand awareness. "Since we're a Web-based business, we were looking to get more people to interact with the brand," Grumbine says. "It's great having people come in and see the clothing, because the materials we use are unique, soft, comfortable, and vintage-like."
A friend in the real estate industry helped Revilla and Grumbine find an empty store on a street with high foot traffic. The space had wireless Internet access. To publicize the event, the founders sent messages to their Facebook and Twitter followers and handed out fliers around town. They used a laptop and an online application from First Data, a merchant processing service, to accept credit card purchases.
In one weekend, the company sold $1,000 worth of artist-designed T-shirts and sweatshirts; $200 of that was donated to a local charity as part of the company's dedication to charitable causes. After Revilla and Grumbine purchased signage, food, and office supplies, their costs for the event totaled just $150 -- plus a few T-shirts. The landlord let the founders use the space in exchange for a couple of shirts.
