What started as a fad in US shopping malls is increasingly
evolving into a permanent feature of the UK High Street. Pop-up shops are temporary retail outlets
that take over an empty shop and are open for just a few days or weeks or
sometimes hours to offer fashion goods or some surplus or other at
significantly discounted basis. Local
authorities and landlords are renting out empty shops for very short-term lets
in order to cash in on the demand for short term retail space. These
initiatives have a tendency to pop up unannounced, quickly draw in the crowds,
and then disappear or morph into something else. The run up to Christmas has become well
established as a period when all types of retail opportunities are set-up to
cater for every conceivable taste and interest.
During 2012, big brands including JJB Sports, Clinton Cards, Blacks
Leisure, Game and Peacocks have either disappeared or scaled back their
presence in town centres after going into administration and most recently with
the collapse of Comet, the demise of the High Street is in full swing. Caught between recession, unrealistic commercial
rents and the internet resulting in upwards of one in ten retail shop-fronts
lying empty, can the pop-shop provide a realistic answer. The pop-up shop is often set-up as an
extension of internet campaign are taking over some of these retail units for
just days at a time often as extensions of some market-stall activity or sale
of bankrupt stock creating a flash crowd of interest. However, they are frequently used by major
brands seeking to create some short-term buzz or more often to promote some
wider event or PR launch.
Whilst this may work effectively in our major cities and shopping malls,
with High Street stores increasingly seen as show room extensions of internet
web sites this trend is likely to grow and go mainstream with major retail
brands and reach the smaller towns and villages being whose High Streets are
frequently becoming ghost towns as the money goes to the out of town shopping supermarkets.
Undoubtedly, the pop-up shop has become an additional solution for marketers
and major brands to promote their goods and services, but we need to see local
authorities and landlords beyond the major cities embracing this trend and
encouraging more small businesses to try out this approach in the hope of revitalising
the traditional High Street. More over
the greater encouragement to connect the online world with bricks and mortar
reality is something that needs encouragement. The more opportunities to demonstrate and support such initiatives the greater the opportunity that some business may
developed into longer term tenants beyond the seasonal rush.
