Posted on 10/17/2009 11:27:25 AM PDT by thecodont
For most retail stores, staying in business for only a few days would be considered a major flop.
But a growing number of merchants are opening shops and abruptly shutting them down soon after -- on purpose.
These quickie retail operations -- known as pop-ups -- are showing up throughout Southern California and around the nation, filling in the gaps at recession-battered shopping centers for a fraction of the regular rents.
Once limited to seasonal shops and dusty liquidation centers, pop-up stores are now being opened by some of the nation's biggest retailers.
It's a trend that could reshape the nation's retail landscape if it continues, diminishing the power of commercial landlords and making it easier for merchants to test new locations and products with little commitment.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Mandy Castro hugs a stuffed bear as she is held by her father, Jesus Castro, in the Toys R Us Holiday Express store in the Citadel in Los Angeles. The store is temporarily filling a 6,000-square-foot space that had sat empty for more than eight months after previous tenant KB Toys went out of business. (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times / October 2, 2009) |
/sigh
With the number of commercial properties vacant due to the Baraqqi depression, there will be plenty of locations available to set up ACORN offices in 2011.
A sign of the times - both good and bad. Rough on the landlords but free enterprise is making lemons out of lemonade.
If you click on the link, be sure to go to the bottom and check out Barbara Streisand's auction catalog - the one with her seductively posing on the cover. (evil grin)
Has anyone seen one of these stores? I’ve been hearing about them for over a year, and have never seen a one.
Maybe the pop up and pop down so fast I miss them? : )
Consumers beware: all sales are final. Don't expect refunds for broken items. Tech support? Call the manufacturer, if you can find it.
Employees beware: better get your pay in cash. You're temps, don't expect medical, unemployment, or any other benefits.
Landlord beware: hope you get the store back in the same condition you rented it. If you're lucky, none of the mess you have to clean up will be toxic.
We have a property near my home that has been converted to one of these. They had a summer clearance store, now it’s a Halloween store and I assume it’ll be a Christmas/Christmas clearance store as well.
When I was a kid, we used to have several “flea markets” in unrented retail space and they were always busy and loaded down with seasonal stuff.
I live in a western burb of MIlwaukee,WI. Circuit City and Comp USA spaces now Haloween stores.
Have a pop up halloween store in our shopping center.
No doubt they will add christmas decorations and then close their doors.
Better than an empty storefront.
That’s why the Halloween stores pop up every year in vacant commercial property. They get the rent dirt free for the short period of time because the owner doesn’t have any income coming in and his center looks less than full. At least of a couple weeks it’s closer to 100% occupancy and your getting some $$$. Long lasting? Nope. Once occupancy rates drop it will go away.
Every year I see these Halloween stores pop up almost overnight selling costumes and stuff for about two months before Halloween, then they are gone.
LOL! Sorry, I wasn't able to focus on your post long enough to get through it. Can you shorten it? :-)
I’ve seen the Halloween stores over the years, so I didn’t put them in the category of these new pop up stores. I guess they can be considered to be in this category, but my understanding was that these new stores are generally big names, opening and closing in various locales for short periods of time and attracting people because they already have the name cachet. It seems different from the Halloween thing, where I have no idea who owns them, etc., but I get the picture.
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