Retail Pop-Up Shop Design + Ideas
Are you planning a pop-up shop?
There’s more to planning a pop-up shop than just choosing a location. Being that these shops are temporary in nature, the window to leave a lasting impression on consumers is small. It is critical that your pop-up shop is optimized to display your product and market your brand, if not better than a more permanent retail space.
A boring or cluttered display may not draw people/potential customers in, or a poor quality shop could potentially damage your brand’s image. We have many pop-up shop examples and concepts to help guide your design to match your brand. Pop-up shops require extra attention to design to ensure every edge of the design is finished and representative of your brand.
David Flatt LTD has over 25 years of custom manufacturing and retail design service experience. We can help you each step of the way and provide everything from new pop-up shop ideas to meeting the pop-up shop rental needs you’ll have. If you need expert advice or if you’re looking to set up a pop-up shop in NYC, the tri state area, or beyond, you’ve come to the right place. Meet David, the President of David Flatt LTD, as he shares his best pop-up shop ideas and tips.
Planning is Design, Design is Planning
I got involved in pop-up shop design because I wanted to build useful things. I first started as more of a craftsman than a designer; building things like furniture. I realized that planning is really design. Good design ideas mean artistically considering materials and outcome, so that you’re not wasting a lot of the tree or throwing away a lot of the scrap just to get to your end result. With a good pop-up shop design idea, you use the minimal amount of materials to maximize functionality. That, in a lot of ways, is where the true beauty lies.
Pop-Ups Are Like Tiny Houses
There are two basic kinds of pop-up shops. A stand alone pop-up shop includes free-standing booths and can be set up in a hotel lobby, exhibit hall, or other open space. The second type of pop-up you’ll find is inside an existing retail space with a short lease or special arrangement for a non-temporary stay.
Stand alone pop-up shops are a different animal. Because of their temporary or mobile nature, they have to be concise. The pop-up shop is a lot like a tiny house; each one can look vastly different from one another, but the principles of its design require every component to be purposeful and creative with every inch of the space. As such, a stand alone pop-up shop usually requires finishing on all angles of the design: top, bottom, back, front. Every little surface is as important as any other. Often these shops are self-contained so they can be closed and locked up outside of operating hours, which means each component and surface needs to be optimized to work in synergy.
Think Reusable
Pop-ups inside an existing retail space are totally different; we build them and they sit there for a period of time before either going away or moving to some other place. The owners want to spend the absolute smallest amount of money to move from one place to the next, so they don’t want to make any big changes. Fortunately, retail spaces are, more or less, universally rectangular in shape. The design becomes all about rental and what you can move around—what’s available and what items can be mixed together. They are more concerned with the disposable.
Create a Can’t-Miss Experience
Because it’s so easy and simple for people to shop online, retailers are faced with the problems of differentiating themselves more than ever. And they’re faced with the problem of: how do you get a potential customers into your store? You must create a can’t miss shopping experience.
Make It Instagrammable
One of the reasons I think pop-up shops have become the new norm, is that they match the theme of what’s happening around them. If you look at social media, we’re seeing temporary content through stories and Snapchats. These things disappear; they’re not forever. With pop-up retail, there’s an urgency. There are unique product offerings and there’s a limited supply and amount of time to be part of that marketing experience. Speaking of social media, one of the biggest trends we’ve noticed with these pop-up projects is the emphasis on designing fixtures that are “Instagrammable.”
Offer What Ecommerce Can’t
The touchy-feely aspect of garments and jewelry also becomes way more important. I mean, yes, you can find and buy fashion online, but you are looking at a photograph, trying to see a level of polish or the texture of the material. You may be left with a bad photograph, odd lighting, off-color edits, or a compressed photograph that is too small to see details clearly. Some things are standard commodities that can be easily bought online, but really special things are the opposite of commodity.
It’s the retailer’s opportunity and responsibility to do that personalizing, customizing, showing materials, explaining the value. This is best done in person and with experts on the retail design materials and finishes. The upside to the pop-up shops NYC has is that they offer the experience in-person shopping experience a website can’t.
How is the David G. Flatt LTD Approach Different?
David G. Flatt LTD proudly designs pop-up shops that are uniquely representative of the brand we’re creating them for, the products they carry, and the customers they have/want. Many other retail designers style shines through their work. We don’t strive for our own look or ideas with our pop-up shops, we individualize our designs for each customer. We spend a lot of time with our clients, understanding not just how their brand looks, but how it feels and breathes. And then we’re able to learn their system and create something ideal for it. We’re really good at customizing our look to fit that customer’s look. We’re able to customize our standard elements in such a way that they don’t look like standard elements anymore.
Need help planning a retail pop-up or showroom?
Submit a quote request or give us a call at 718-937-7944 and for a free 30-minute consultation and we can help you achieve the best pop-up shop for your next trade show or event!
