Stores on the move

The enthusiasm of shoppers such as Sharma indicates that there is a market for pop-up stores. Pop-up stores are mid-way between trunk shows and exhibitions. Divya Thakur,creative director of Design Temple in Mumbai,points out that an exhibition is usually held at a gallery whereas a pop-up is a smaller version of the store that offers much more than just the ware. “For a pop-up to do well,the brand hosting it needs to have an identity that’s strong enough to draw in a new crowd. It also helps when the venue is also popular among shoppers,” she says.

The visual merchandising too plays an important role in a pop-up store. “Here,one is not just selling a garment or an accessory; rather you’re introducing the store to the customer. There’s a greater focus on the display,” says Maithili Ahluwalia of Bungalow 8 in Mumbai.

Another recent example of a pop-up store would be that of Made-To-Measure by Raymond which brought the concept of designing one’s own wardrobe to Pune on July 6 and lasted the entire weekend at the city’s Amanora Town Centre. The brand currently has only one showroom in Dubai and one in Mumbai; so the pop-up store was aimed at promoting a customised line of formal-wear where buyers could even get their initials discreetly embroidered on their garments. This apart,the first week of June also saw several pop-up stores from Mumbai,Delhi,Bangalore and Hyderabad showcase designer garments,shoes and accessories at the Flea Market organised by High Spirits at Ishanya Mall,Pune. A similar event is now scheduled to be held in August.

Even when Cecilia Morelli-Parikh of Le Mill wanted to explore the Delhi market,a pop-up store seemed like a good idea. “The response was great as Delhiites were very receptive to the brand,” says Morelli-Parikh,who is looking at more pop-up stores in the capital. Similarly,Ahluwalia is eyeing more pop-ups—both across the country and in international cities such as New York and Tokyo.

Luxury boutiques and high-end stores often dwell on the pop-up store format to test the market outside their home cities. “This concept of putting up pop-up stores is an efficient and cost effective way of studying the market reaction to sub-brands and products before opening a full fledged store,” says Tushar Mehta,President,Marketing at Amanora Town Centre,Pune.

“As a 12-year-old Mumbai store,we have already tapped into our customer base here. But we now want to show clients in other cities what they can expect from us,” says Thakur,who has been holding a series of pop-up stores called Design Temple@The Box.

The pop-up stores,owing to their structure,are not restricted to metros alone. A case in point is the multi-designer store Atosa in Mumbai. Aparna Badlani,one of its owners,is gearing up for their pop-up store to open in Nagpur in the third week of July. “Not many are aware of this,but cities like Nagpur and Ahmedabad have a lot of potential as markets. We haven’t decided the venue yet but it will be a three-day pop-up store in Nagpur.”

(with inputs from Anjali Jhangiani)