Here today, gone tomorrow

May 6, 2009 1:06 AM

Pop up shops have been popping up, well, pretty much everywhere. And pop up restaurants. And pop up art galleries. While the trend started long before the current retail downturn, and looks set to continue as companies strive to create interest in their products and services, will creative spontaneity start to look a little bit too planned and evolve into a mainstream retail channel?
posted by MuffinMan (10 comments total)

Ugh, these 'cool hunting' shopping artists seriously annoy me. It's like they're not creative to generate anything on their own or appreciate real art so they pay people money to feel special. They certainly aren't paying for the products themselves which probably only require a couple hours of labor (probably much less in the case of target or something) and a few dollars in raw materials.
posted by delmoi at 1:14 AM on May 6, 2009

...pop up unannounced, quickly draw in the crowds, and then disappear or morph into something else, adding to retail the fresh feel, exclusivity and surprise that galleries, theatres and Cirque du Soleil-adepts have been using for years.

I love the fresh feel I get when I try to return a broken or defective product and discover a boarded up storefront! And what could be more exclusive than having the police confiscate my one-of-a-kind find that I unwittingly purchased from a fence? And surprise? Boy, you don't know the half!
posted by DU at 4:26 AM on May 6, 2009 [3 favorites]

by definition pop-up shops are not cool, just new! and improved! marketing - to quote Bowie "same old thing in brand new drag."
posted by hooptycritter at 4:26 AM on May 6, 2009

True pop-up retail.
posted by Pollomacho at 4:35 AM on May 6, 2009

This reminds me of what we used to call "cursed restaurant locations"--you know, that one spot where a Chinese place lasts 4 months and is replaced by a Greek place that lasts a year and is replaced by a coffee shop that lasts a month, etc. Does it count as a trend if they're not doing it on purpose?
posted by scratch at 5:57 AM on May 6, 2009 [2 favorites]

"cursed restaurant locations"

Or as I like to call them, Brigadiners.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 6:05 AM on May 6, 2009 [1 favorite]

Pop up art is great when its, you know, installing a work without actually telling anyone. Bonus points if it stays in someone's permanent collection.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 6:10 AM on May 6, 2009

This reminds me of what we used to call "cursed restaurant locations"--you know, that one spot where a Chinese place lasts 4 months and is replaced by a Greek place that lasts a year and is replaced by a coffee shop that lasts a month, etc. Does it count as a trend if they're not doing it on purpose?

See (hear) Act 1: Unconquerable
posted by Pollomacho at 6:21 AM on May 6, 2009

Pop up club

I think this idea is kind of a cool if it were more available to industrious small business minded people, but there would be so many damn hoops you would have to jump through if you wanted to do something with food or alcohol
posted by P.o.B. at 7:42 AM on May 6, 2009

It is just a logical extension of what has always existed.

Halloween, Christmas Tree, and pumpkin sales lots have been popping up every year for a hundred years. And the big departments stores are constantly changing the mix of products in their displays. Fast changing fashions in clothes and goods is where the real money has always been made (though not from me!)

It offers a more efficient way to quickly match what sells to what people want to buy.
posted by eye of newt at 10:10 AM on May 6, 2009