Dow Jones Newswires has a look at the trend of pop-up shops in urban markets. "Retailers are embracing the concept for a broader reach in cities like New York and Chicago as shoppers look for bargains or special items. Landlords see the short-term deals as better than no deal at all, receiving some income from hard-to-fill dark stores as they hunt for permanent tenants."
This is a trend we've tried to track in recent years, particularly the shops that have showed up in the New York area. For example, Teen Vogue operated The Haute Spot at the Mall at Short Hills in New Jersey in December. Target had four bodegas in New York city last fall. Toys 'R' Us operated a pop-up store in New York during the 2007 holiday shopping season. JC Penney had a shop in Times Square in spring 2006. We also ran a feature story on pop-up shops in February 2006.
Here are some other news and notes on retail and retail real estate from around the Web today.
There's cutting edge fun-loving and bleeding-edge pandering.Compare all of this to the brilliantly executed McCafe launch last month which has Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts and others scrambling to stay relevant to a customer base suddenly considering and returning to McDonalds in the morning. McDonald's got it right – grow your audience, don't narrow it like BK is doing.
The trouble with desperation marketing is people can smell it on you and choose to avoid you. It's time for a change at Burger King. What do you think?