Pop In, Pop Out

Now you see them, now you don’t.

By Carol Tisch

In Sarasota, Brookstone is the retail equivalent of a snowbird. Although one local furniture store owner jokes that “season” for his business lasts about three weeks, Brookstone does hang around Westfield’s Southgate mall for a solid three months. They’ll be packing up at the end of February, so if you’d rather see their fascinating, state of the art gadgets up close ands personal (instead of shopping online) pop in before Brookstone pops out.

This brings me to the new buzz in shopping: the pop-up store. In large cities, retailers are doing some pretty innovative marketing through temporary stores known as pop-ups–and not just at Christmas. While our mall had temporary shops or kiosks for electronic pianos, gourmet chocolates, and Brookstone massage chairs this holiday season, we have not seen anything remotely akin to what’s happening in the pop-up world of New York, Chicago, or LA.

Other than the mall, the only temporary stores I’ve noticed since moving here are the rug dealers running dubious going out of business sales month after month, moving their wares from Venice to Sarasota, then Bradenton, ad infinitum. But in big, and even medium sized cities, pop-up stores are must-see retail entertainment venues as compelling as Broadway theater or Cirque du Soleil.

Some of the most noteworthy case studies for business journalists were pioneer projects by Target, beginning in 2003. This mega discount chain opened a temporary 1,500- square-foot store in New York’s Rockefeller Center to launch its line of clothing by star designer Isaac Mizrahi. In 2004, Target set up a temporary floating store on the Hudson River for Christmas sales.

Since then, marketing firms have cropped up as specialists in creating surprise retail venues that pop up where and when consumers least expect. One company, Vacant Club, has created a club aura for its pop-up store clients with an elusive program that is made public only by e-mail to members and only nanoseconds before the stores open. Vacant opens exhibition stores only for a month, including in shopping meccas like New York, London, Tokyo, Berlin and more.

Check out their website, www.govacant.com, and you’ll see exactly how elusive (and therefore seductive) this guerrilla marketing tactic is. I still haven’t figured out exactly how it works, so any help will be appreciated. In the interim, I’ll be spending my time at Brookstone, deciding whether I can’t live without the new iSqueeze foot massager ($395), a New York Times Sudoku touch screen puzzle ($20) to keep my brain cells fit, or perhaps a Shiatsu massage pillow to complete my home spa ($75).

Posted: 1/8/2007 10:31:55 AM | 1 comments

	vicky
	Some of the most noteworthy case studies for business journalists were pioneer projects by Target, beginning in 2003. This mega discount chain opened a temporary 1,500- square-foot store in New York’s Rockefeller Center to launch its line of clothing by star designer Isaac Mizrahi. In 2004, Target set up a temporary floating store on the Hudson River for Christmas sales.
	12/22/2010 10:45:15 PM
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