New Economy - Pop-Up Stores

At one time, I used to find it rather strange that some shops here in Roses seemed to change hands a lot. You just discovered a new shop, or a new store, a new kiosk, a few weeks or a few months later, either the shops had disappeared altogether, or the proprietors have become different people, doing different businesses, or selling different goods. These have apparently become new ways of running certain businesses these days, with the trend spreading far and wide, and in fact existing as well as becoming more popular in many countries.

In the beginning those were mainly small stores and shops, selling knickknacks, run of the mill souvenirs, paintings and sketches, by frustrated arty people who considered themselves artists, and home-made handicrafts, etc. At least those were the ones I saw locally. In recent years, these had become much larger shops, fully stocked even; but then they too disappeared after a short period or just a season.

How do they even recover the original capital lay-out in fixtures and fittings for the shop space, not to say profit, the only reason for setting up the business? Did they close because they couldn't achieve the estimated benefit, or by coincidence, all of them found something better to do later?

This kind of shops are to be found everywhere now, in New York, Berlin, Tokyo, China and others. They have now got an official name, Pop-Up Stores, or Pop-Up Retail within the trade. They have also become much more varied and sophisticated, into art, electronics, fashion and just about anything and in fact everything. It has become another way of marketing I guess, a way to test out consumer tastes and demand, gain experiences and take advantage of the open advertising without the middleman, selling the product while doing so. In Soho of New York Nick installed a shop selling 250 pairs of sports shoes and disappeared after only 4 days. Gap, Levi's and Kodak have all participated.

Opened for merely a month is the "Chivas Studio", the known brand Chivas Whisky of the Pernod Ricard group, installed in a loft, in Poblenou of Barcelona. Not only there are whisky galore, but they also organised suppers, emphasizing dishes and deserts with added whisky as part of the ingredient, as well as before or after dinner drink no doubt. It's the right time of the year for this I guess, slack month after all the festive days and before summer season starts; by then, being the tourist-season, no extra advertising is needed.

In the same establishment, the whisky connoisseurs can also browse the art exhibition and fashion displays. All to keep the customers staying longer and consume more whisky I dare say. As Spain now prohibits advertising of alcohol on television, this is a rather clever recourse.

Tags:popupstore,whiskychivas

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