Pop-up shops offer valuable foot traffic and in-person brand exposure. But how can you find a pop-up shop that fits your needs and budget?
Creating a pop-up shop is an ideal, low-commitment way for you to attract foot traffic and get in front of high-intent customers for the holiday season—and anytime you want to rev up revenue and brand visibility.
If you run an online shop, or your main storefront is more remote than you’d like, then a pop-up shop is a great way to reap the benefits of having a central brick-and-mortar location. Plus, you don’t have to commit to the long-term costs that generally entails.
Traditional brick and mortar versus mobile storefront rentals
The average price of a storefront rental in Los Angeles is more than $5,000. And that’s just the beginning. You’ll typically need to sign off on a two-year lease, hand over the first and last month’s rent, a deposit, and transfer some utilities into your name. If your storefront doesn’t come with fixtures, you’ll need to invest in those as well.
Right off the bat, you’re looking at least a $20,000 initial investment to get into a space in Los Angeles.
Hustle Trucks rent by the day and include mileage, hangers, and cleaning. Book your truck today and pop up tomorrow wherever you like! All you need in the truck, your hustle, and your merchandise.
Where is the best place to pop up?
Finding the right pop-up shop space comes with challenges, and doing it right is crucial—after all, if the space isn’t right, then why open a pop-up shop at all?
Because the space itself is so integral to a pop-up shop’s success, it’s important to dedicate a lot of time and careful attention to your search.
First, What’s a Pop-Up Shop?
Pop-up shops—often referred to as flash retail, temporary retail, or pop-up stores—are short-term storefronts. Hustle Trucks let you pop up wherever you want, on any corner, in any parking lot, on any block. Because of the many advantages, pop-up shops offer businesses, international brands and pre-launch startups alike can benefit from creating them.
Pop-up shops are a relatively new phenomenon, and creating one for your business can add an intangible “cool” factor to your brand. Beyond that, you should also consider the more practical benefits of opening up a pop-up shop for your business.
Pop-Up Shop Benefits
Pop-up shops are becoming more and more popular for a reason: the advantages they offer extend far beyond the general hype that they create. For one, their ephemeral nature can foster a sense of urgency among customers who walk by and stop in your store. Depending on how long your pop-up shop is slated to last, customers will likely want to make their purchase while they know they still can.
Additionally, pop-up shops can serve as the perfect setting for a soft launch. You can test out a new product or a new market without investing in permanent real estate or a lease deposit. This way, if the product you’re testing or the area you’re scouting doesn’t prove to be a success, then you can go back to the drawing board without many sunk costs.
Even more, if you have any inventory you desperately need to move, then a pop-up shop is an exciting way to do just that. Stock a pop-up shop with any surplus goods you’ve been sitting on, and come up with a quippy branding story to make the collection more cohesive. Before you know it, you’re transforming a stockpile of inventory into a brand new revenue stream.
Finally, the costs of a pop-up shop are much less significant than those associated with a long-term store. Because pop-up shops often fill vacant commercial real estate, landlords may offer deals on rent. Pop-up shops can also be set up within another establishment—like a coffee shop, a restaurant, or even another retail store—that’s still up and running. Rent for a month in a small corner of a partner’s space won’t even come close to what you would pay for a month in your own storefront—especially in a well-trafficked area.
What to Look for in a Pop-Up Shop Space
Now, to run up the most important and steep hill of opening a successful pop-up shop—finding the perfect space—you need to do some serious prep work. Before you start your search, develop an idea of what your ideal pop-up shop space would be. Be sure to consider all six of these factors along the way:
Setup
Will your pop-up shop occupy its very own storefront? Or will you set up shop with a booth in a brick-and-mortar partner’s space? You first need to make sure you know what you want your pop-up shop set up to look like. Base your decision on your offerings, the amount of space you need, and what kind of opportunities you have access to.
Location
A pop-up shop location without a fair amount of foot traffic likely won’t provide much value. As much as you can, try to spare no expense in finding the most central pop-up shop space possible. Think about it—how many times have you stopped in a shop when you weren’t planning to simply because you walked past it while you were running errands and saw something enticing in the window?
Especially for new brands, this organic encounter with consumers is the main draw of the pop-up shop. Unless your business has a wide reach and a steady stream of devoted customers willing to travel for your products or services, a remotely-located pop-up shop isn’t worth your while.
On the other hand, if another establishment is inviting you to set up a pop-up shop within their space, take their location and customer base into account. If they don’t typically have steady foot traffic, suggest a team effort publicity plan for your pop-up.
Visibility
Another side of that same coin? The visibility of your pop-up shop. Make sure that your chosen pop-up space is actually in the line of sight of shoppers that might walk past it. Ensure that your pop-up shop space is highly visible to passing traffic.
Duration
Decide whether you want your pop-up shop to be more pop-up or more shop: how long will you want to have your pop-up shop space up and running? Pop-up shops can last anywhere from three days to three months, so you have a lot of wiggle room in terms of duration.
A weekend-long pop-up shop can attract huge droves of customers all at once, but could also mean long lines and overwhelmed patrons. On the other hand, if your pop-up shop stays open too long, you could lose the urgency that typically comes with shorter-lived pop-ups. Decide on your happy medium before you narrow down your pop-up shop space options.
Price
Last but certainly not least, you of course need to take the price of your pop-up shop space into account. The rent you’ll pay can vary widely based on city, location, square footage, and necessary utilities.
How to Find a Pop-Up Shop Space
Now that you’ve considered all the pertinent details of your ideal pop-up shop space, you’re finally prepared to activate your search.
Next Steps for Finding a Pop-Up Shop Space
So, now that you’re equipped with all the know-how necessary to find a pop-up shop space for your business, what’s next? If you’ve come up with a list of all of the features you want out of your ideal pop-up shop space, then you’re ready to hit the ground running.
Start your search in advance so that you can access the biggest pool of pop-up shop space options possible, and try out each of the three outreach tactics we suggest. Eventually, you’ll find the pop-up shop that offers the balance you’re looking for. From there, you simply have to set up shop and watch the new business walk right in.
