A pop up shop or pop up store is a temporary retail sale point, often in a vacant shopfront in a high traffic location like a mall or an arcade. They exist for as little as a day and usually not more than a couple of weeks. They might be erected just to take advantage of a week’s vacancy in a prime location or be used to test a new product range. They are also common around peak times like Christmas, when retail outlets can benefit from an additional points of purchase and some extra space.

Easter, Valentines Day, and even international sporting matches are more opportunities that can be exploited by a temporary shopfront. A high return on investment is often expected- imagine the sales of England team shirts, flags, hats, face paint and paraphernalia on world cup day. The same shop wouldn’t expect nearly so high a sales rate for the rest of the year, so a temporary arrangement is ideal.

Even in a normal retail context at any time of year, the temporary, here today gone tomorrow nature of a pop up shop means that it benefits from being new and novel. Customers are always on the lookout for something they’ve never seen before, and well designed pop ups are especially attractive to browsers.

Setting up a pop up shop takes some thought. There is no scope for seeing what works and building from there, because time is extremely precious. Choosing bright, organised and attractive point of sale displays is the order of the day, and of course, the stands and displays have to be very portable and quick to erect and dismantle. The displays are often best obtained as a set for maximum impact. Some companies will also supply staff on a daily basis, along with the pop up retail display set, so setting up an instant shop is very easy.