When I think of the pop-up store operation, I think of Halloween Express. The costume shop and everything-Halloween franchise appears, of course, around Halloween, in once-empty spaces in malls and in gigantic tents in parking lots.
And then Poof! … They’re gone.
These days, pop-up stores seem to be gaining ground - even with the big brands. Just look at Pop Tarts World in New York City’s Time Square. The sweet treat discovered a temporary home there earlier this month.
Dan Adamson and Brian Goldenman, founders of Farm Boy & Girl, also started out as a sort of pop-up. They didn’t go the route of testing their product at the mall. They went to where their particular product would get the most play – the Minnesota State Fair – one of the largest gatherings of farm community members and livestock owners in the nation. They were peddling the country version of Abercrombie merchandise - T-shirts and hats with slogans featuring farm flair. Needless to say their fairgound test market cultivated a hit!
Virtually any retailer can utilize pop-up stores to spark some excitement and generate buzz around a new product launch. Pop-up stores are ideal for checking the consumer pulse and seeing how the public reacts to a new product.
With the holidays right around the corner, the pop-up location might not be such a bad idea. Here are five benefits of pop-up locations:
- Minimal risk. Perfect for those of you out there afraid of commitment, pop-ups are the way to go. You don’t have to commit to a long-term lease in most cases and are likely to lease month to month.
- Holiday traffic. When you open up your tacky holiday sweater store, please let me know. My holiday mission is always to find the scariest and the tackiest. If you already dabble in retailing holiday-specific items, you may use a temporary location to unload some merchandise to spike sales without creating additional overhead expense.
- Test lab. Order a small amount of inventory to try out on customers. The pop-up location serves as a perfect active laboratory for experimentation with changing inventory or testing new product in a new market.
- Brand awareness. Get your name and merchandise in front of people by pinpointing a high-traffic area temporarily.
- Size. If you’re sure you’d like to open a new site, you can experiment with different-sized stores to audit how much space you actually need.
Have you previously opened a pop-up store or are you planning on one for the holiday season? What advice would you give to small business owners looking to start their own business by opening a pop-up?
As is becoming more apparent day by day: This is not your typical economic recovery.
To most people, working from home sounds great. In fact it’s the dream of many nine-to-fivers and nearly every 7:00 a.m. commuter – which is probably why a Google search for “work from home business” yields 979 million page results. Who wouldn’t want the freedom to set your own hours, stay in your jammies all day, spend time with the kids, take a break whenever you want, even get a snack (or a beer) when the feeling strikes? Sounds divine, doesn’t it?
There are still some fabulous prizes and free public relations opportunities available for all of you out there who are already in business or are contemplating the idea of
Did you know there’s a new tax provision tucked in the health care bill passed earlier this year that could carry an impact on your small business?
A recent article written by Tory Johnson, 
Entrepreneurial finance and ethics expert 
Ok, I’m a child of the 80s and the iconic John Hughes movie The Breakfast Club was one of my favorites. In essence this movie was about a group of teenagers from different perceived social cliques forced together due to their mutually shared detention. In the end, they realize that they’re not so different after all.
We’re midway through August, and if I were about to start elementary or secondary school, I’d be mourning the fleeting days of summer.
