Pop-up shops help business pick up
Pop-up stores are becoming more mainstream in NZ, as property owners see potential in small, unused spaces, writes Chloe Winter.
Commercial landlords should embrace pop-up stores if they are to weather changing shopping habits and prevent valuable spaces from lying vacant, a real estate agent says.
Pop-up stores - the temporary conversion of an empty space into anything from a commercial outlet to an art gallery – have surged in popularity in recent years, and have become a permanent part of the retail landscape in major shopping centres in the US and Europe.
They have yet to cement themselves fully in the New Zealand market, but key players in the retail market have acknowledged their move into the mainstream.
Retailers and landlords who previously ignored or dismissed them as marketing events or as cheap discount stores, or perhaps because they lacked the know-how to try them, are now seeing their worth as an opportunity to reach out to new customers.
Bayleys national commercial director John Church said the rise of pop-ups was partly due to the fact that they provide a ‘‘neat solution to a persistent problem: empty shops’’.
‘‘The temporary nature of popups means the risk is low for all parties involved.
‘‘Retailers can take a gamble on a new location or new product, and dare to be creative - pop-ups are equivalent of taking a car out of a test drive - while landlords can fill their spaces more quickly, and expand their client base.’’
Through the power of the popup, previously underutilised sites could be ‘‘transformed into vibrant commercial hubs’’, Church said.
‘‘Using pop-ups can help entrepreneurs stay nimble and lean - they do not need to sign long leases, stash away much cash or carry big credit lines.
‘‘For their part, consumers can meet the designers and touch and feel their works, which cannot be done online,’’ he said.
‘‘In the process, brands can be built more quickly, sales can be increased and new products can be tested.’’
For commercial landlords who had long relied on the attractiveness of their conveniently-placed retail spaces, pop-ups were something to ‘‘fall back on’’ when more shoppers preferred to make their purchases from their couches, Church said.
Greg Harford, of Retail NZ, said pop-ups would become an increasing phenomenon in New Zealand because they were not only popular with consumers, but they were an opportunity for retailers.
‘‘Retail is constantly reinventing itself - new stores are coming in and old businesses are closing down.
‘‘Pop-ups are part of the mix even though they represent a relatively small slice of the retail pie,’’ he said.
‘‘Commercial landlords are always going to prefer a high-end retailer on a lengthy lease but popups are an opportunity for them to fill the gap between permanent tenants.’’
In Christchurch, a pop-up mall was a colourful beacon of hope for a city trying to find a way through the pain of the devastating earthquake of February 22, 2011.
Pop UP Now founder Lizzi Hines, said for many people not in the real estate business, the notion that landlords could leave empty retail space for years was ’’mindboggling’’.
Landlords and leasing agents in New Zealand had yet to fully realise the benefits pop-ups, she said.
‘‘We’re definitely trying to educate landlords and agents on how important it is to activate a space,’’ she said.
‘‘A lot of retailers, particularly if they are first time-retailers, don’t know what a space is going to look like unless they see someone in there first,’’ Hines said.
‘‘Seeing an active space can be an incentive to signing a long-term lease.’’
For landlords, it made them ‘‘a bit of coin’’ in the meantime, she said.
‘‘You’ve got to get all parties to buy into idea and we have had situations where we have found a great site but we can’t get the landlord on board.
‘‘Their argument is, ‘I don’t want to fill my space with a threemonth pop-up, because that potentially could stop me from getting someone to sign a six-year lease,’ Hines said.
‘‘But landlords are starting to become more open to it because they’re starting to see more examples of it.’’