Most of have been to some sort of little sales thing at a friends home whether it was Tupperware, unmentionables, wine, jewelry, etc, we have had the experience or know of it. A pop up shop is a little different though. Most of these other experiences were based on a larger company feeding sellable through mom’s or wives trying to just sell a larger companies inventory and make an extra buck.

A Pop Up shop is a great alternative to having a permanent retail showroom for someone who had their own product to sell but either is not ready to or is choosing no to commit to all the overhead of a brick and mortar space. This is ideal for start ups and one man or woman shows.

A Pop Up Shop is a short term, an afternoon or up to a month, temporary retail experience. The business or artist can partner with a larger retail store and hold their pop up with them for a portion of the sales. A Pop Up can be at an artists studio for a weekend. The concept has been around for ages, but LA is taking credit for it being a current trend in the US around the holidays, starting with Halloween seasonal stores in the 2010’s after the recession, to today with a slowing economy.

Larger retail brands started to use Pop Ups as a way to experiment with retail trends and products. Landlords often use temporary art installations to fill empty store fronts, the artist gets prime real-estate to show case their work.

In todays atmosphere of Covid, many small businesses and artists are struggling as many large outdoor events have been canceled. The emergence of more and more Pop Up Shops will be an ever growing trend as less small businesses will be able to maintain the overhead of brick and mortar and many will only survive as they become more and more innovative with how to reach their current and fur-true customer bases.

With the holidays literally right around the corner we will see so many of these experiences in our own neighborhoods. Preferable outside. So if you see sandwich board or a flag for a pop up, stop in and check it out. They are usually super fun events and you will be supporting a seedling or struggling business or artist.