Temporary storefronts—for everything from high fashion to big-box retailers to "foodie"-favored restaurants—are all the rage. A new study quantifies the economic clout of pop-up businesses.
If your city hasn't already, it would probably be a good idea to figure out how to allow retail businesses to use underutilized or vacant storefronts for pop-ups. According to an article by Teresa Novelino, "pop-up businesses, whether their locations are a historic hotel or a humble church basement, have over the last decade quietly spread across the United States and evolved into a big business."
"These operations collectively bring in between $45 billion and $50 billion in revenues annually, according to a study conducted by the Chicago-based marketing firm PopUp Republic," adds Novelino.
The article cites specific examples of recent pop-ups in New York (the most surprising of which, perhaps, is a holiday pop-up by the big-box store Target located in Chelsea). Novelino also details the appeal of the pop-up on both sides of the retail equation: for retailers short-term lease and rent arrangements were attractive in the post-recession market, and consumers who are looking for a "touch and feel" shopping experience are also attracted to the temporary nature of the pop-up shops.
FULL STORY: How pop-up retail exploded into a $50B business
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City of Albany
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research