Microsoft, Amazon, Piperlime, Bonobos, and other online stores are also creating small retail sites to boost their wares over the holidays. The Pop-Up, which used to be a time-sensitive device to surprise and delight, has now become as standard south of 23rd Street as rubber Wellingtons and neck scarves.
What this signals is not the ubiquity of Pop-Up retail, but the fact that small retail has become very big. There’s a new trend toward keeping it small: keeping inventory low, service marks high, and a careful watch on the consumer.
Not only are these store-within-a-store small spaces highly efficient vis a vis outfitting the Big Box but, like speed dating, you can get real-world experience, have the opportunity to make a good impression and (if desirable) get in and get out without too much damage.
(By the way, you could argue the traditional department store has always maintained a store-within-a-store concept. But, for now, let’s just imagine.)
Retail spaces like Chelsea Market in Manhattan, Newbury Street in Boston, and The Ferry Building in San Francisco (not to mention like-minded boutique strips in Atlanta, Dallas, Tampa and elsewhere) have proven that you don’t need an amphitheater-sized mall or Big Box strip to attract shoppers.
Note to self: a parallel trend is the coming ubiquity of small batches–great things in small runs. Whether it’s artisanal cheese, charcuterie, marmalades, leather bags, perfumes, or that piece at Lululemon that just might not be there when you come back tomorrow–the attraction is scarcity, and the pressure on shoppers is to buy now.
Back to the mini-box.
Best Buy’s Mobility stores continue to be a strong profit center for the big box retailer. JCP and Target are creating mini-boxes inside their legacy store spaces.
Which makes you wonder if other endangered species could rally. Sears has already shuttled favored brands like Craftsman and Kenmore toward smaller havens. Could Borders have profited by creating smaller retail filled with books that book lovers love, and leave the Kindle to business books and best-selling page turners?
Rachel Shechtman and her STORY retail store has shown that not only can small work gracefully but, as Shechtman proves as she switches out her entire store each season, it can be incredibly nimble. (If you don’t already know, STORY recreates its store around seasonal themes like love, New York, Fortune 50, etc.)
“STORY has become a community center for innovation,” says Shechtman. “The rule is to have a very strong surprise and delight factor.”
Let’s watch and see if bite-size retail becomes a larger and more mainstream source of delight in the coming year.
www.forbes.com
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