Over the days leading up to Christmas well be revealing one juicy morsel of small business reading every day
As door number eight swings open, today’s fun fact about pop-up shops springs out.
If it seems like temporary shops and restaurants are popping up all over the place that’s because they are.
Research published by EE recently found that there were 10, 000 pop-up venues in the UK in 2015 andeight per cent of retailers opened a temporary venue to complement a permanent location.
Established brands such as Google have opened pop-ups for the first time in the UK this year. The tech giant opened a temporary store-within-a-store at a Currys PC World on Tottenham Court Road in March and used the space to showcase Chromebook laptops.
Cosmetics retailer Benefit also opened a pop-up store in London, in addition to the brand’s existing retail spaces launching a temporary beauty parlour on Greek Street in Soho to promote a new mascara. The venue was visited by 3000 people in four weeks, according to innovative small business Appear Here which connects landlords to firms looking for temporary retail space.
Independent retailers looking to grow have also used pop-ups to try out new locations before committing. The owners of Coffee shop Shoreditch Grind used one at Piccadilly Circus to test the water when they wanted to expand after three years at Old Street station.
And from this December, retailers including Spotify, shaving shop Stubble & Strife, and family luggage business Redland London will be among the businesses taking up temporary residence in Topshop Oxford Circus in collaboration with Appear Here.
Ross Bailey, founder and CEO of Appear Here, said: it’s great to see big global brands like Topshop Topman share our ethos and are passionate about delivering memorable shopping. This partnership marks the start of Appear Here In Residence, a new wave of global retailers giving independent brands the chance to place themselves in front of a huge audience.
