RETAIL
Concept, design, product + merchandise selection, organization, packaging, visual display, window display, inventory systems, staff training
PRODUCT
Development, placement, packaging
BRAND
Development, positioning
BUSINESS
Management, domestic + international market research.
CLIENTS:
Grand Hotel du Cap, Cap Ferrat S France
Faena Hotel and Universe Buenos Aires, Argentina
PRESS
BALTIMORE SUN
For pop-ups, it’s location, location, location
Temporary shops give retailers, new customers a chance to discover one another
December 12, 2009|By Andrea K. Walker | andrea.walker@baltsun.com
Gita Chowdhury was looking for more exposure for her clothing and accessories boutique, dresscode by Gita, during the busy holiday season. Developers of the new Legg Mason building in Harbor East were looking for retail tenants during a slow economic time.
Both got what they wanted when the Legg Mason building’s ground floor was converted last weekend into “pop-up” stores for five retailers in the weeks leading up to Christmas.
Such stores, where retailers “pop up” in temporary locations for short periods, have become more popular across the nation as retailers – including giants such as Target and Toys “R” Us – look for innovative ways to attract shoppers. Some are open for months; others for only a few days.
“It allows you to play with your own image and reinvent yourself,” said Chowdhury, whose main store is at the Village of Cross Keys shopping complex. “During a recession, you can’t be still. You have to reinvent yourself.”
For developers and leasing agents, the concept brings life to empty storefronts and generates a little rent money. Prime locations in the Legg Mason building, just east of the Inner Harbor, are probably out of reach for many of the tenants that have set up “pop-up stores,” but they can afford it for a few weeks.
Pop-up stores have been around for several years in major cities, but interest has grown lately, particularly among larger retailers, industry analysts said.
“The reason the scale has grown to this level is a function of the weakness of the economy and the largest amount of vacancies we have seen a long time,” said Howard Davidowitz, chairman of Davidowitz & Associates, a retail consulting and brokerage firm based in New York. “Rents are tumbling, and now landlords are suddenly a lot more interested.”
Online auction site eBay opened its first pop-up store for 10 days in November next door to Bergdorf Goodman at 57th Street and Fifth Avenue in New York. Toys “R” Us has 80 pop-up stores that opened in October and will close in January. Sneaker maker Puma and designer jean maker 7 for All Mankind have opened pop-up stores in Boston this year.
Target tried the concept for the first time in 2002 with a floating store on the Hudson River for the holiday season. It has since opened other temporary stores, including a 1,500-square-foot store at New York’s Rockefeller Center to celebrate a new fashion line by Isaac Mizrahi. This weekend, Target To Go stores will open for three days in three cities, including Washington’s Georgetown neighborhood.
Target uses the pop-up stores to introduce new products, create a buzz for certain merchandise or bring its brand to new markets, said company spokeswoman Lena Michaud. “It’s a way to bring a slice of that Target experience to guests who might not have easy access to a Target store.”
Chowdhury heard about the pop-up idea from a retailer who opened a store along the high-end Bond Street shopping district in London. She knew some of the developers of the Legg Mason building and approached them with the idea.
Now she is one of five retailers that share a large storefront space.