Pop-up shops ideal as first steps

Short-term sites a way to test retail waters, entrepreneurs say

Co-owners Monica Diodati (left) and Rachel Slaton talk at their pop-up shop Two Friends Books and Records in Airship Coffee in Bentonville.
Co-owners Monica Diodati (left) and Rachel Slaton talk at their pop-up shop Two Friends Books and Records in Airship Coffee in Bentonville.

When Dana Schlagenhaft was looking to test her business model in selling artisans’ goods along with her own creations, she set up a small store inside a Bentonville coffee shop for a few months.

She’s now co-owner with Mark Cloud of Hello Local in Springdale. She started out selling T-shirts at a booth at First Fridays on Bentonville Square. She also used a website, social media and good old word of mouth to reach customers.

But Schlagenhaft says opening the pop-up shop gave her a chance to feel out the market and get valuable feedback from customers as she refined her business model.

“It was a chance to figure out what works and what doesn’t so we could minimize risk,” she said. “It was a great way to ease into retailing.”

In the cutthroat world of modern retailing, temporary shops known as pop-ups give artists, designers and entrepreneurs a low-cost, low-commitment way to market their wares. Pop-up shops constituted a $50 billion industry in 2016, according to retail marketing firm PopUp Republic. The company says it has had more than 30,000 businesses listed in its online directory since 2012.

The appeal of pop-ups stretches beyond startups and small businesses, though, as the retail industry struggles to reinvent itself. The format is also being embraced by established retailers like Build-A-Bear, Party City and FAO Schwarz, all of which recently opened pop-up shops around the country for the Christmas shopping season.

In fact, according to this year’s State of Retailing Online study released in March by the National Retail Federation and Forrester Research, 24 percent of store-based retailers surveyed said they were testing pop-up shops as new store formats. Online retailers like Wayfair are also turning to pop-ups as they try to expand from digital to retail stores.

An October 2017 article in the American Marketing Association’s magazine says pop-up shops serve some basic marketing needs, such as introducing consumers to a brand, providing a format for interaction with shoppers, and gathering information about customers’ desires, needs and expectations.

Rachel Slaton and Monica Diodati, owners of Two Friends Books and Records, were both transplants to Bentonville. They arrived in late 2016 or early 2017, and instantly hit it off. Slaton said they were having coffee at Onyx Coffee Lab one day and lamenting the lack of an independent bookstore in the city.

Then they realized that Onyx had a community room, and an idea was born.

In May, the friends rented the room and transformed it into a bookstore for four days, selling old books, new books and vintage records. That August, they had a booth at a back-to-school fair, and then did another pop-up at Onyx the following weekend.

“Things were going really well,” Slaton said, “and we thought why don’t we try another location.”

They found Airship Coffee on Southeast Fifth Street in Bentonville, where they opened their current pop-up on Nov. 24. The pop-up ends Dec. 26 and is open during the coffee shop’s hours, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Both women have busy lives outside their business. Diodati balances the venture with a full-time job and community activities, while Slaton is a full-time mom with an 18-month-old son. They’ve learned the retailing business on the fly, Slaton said, and their shop evolves with each one they do.

“ I w o u l d e n c o u r a g e people to be encouraged,” Slaton said, “to start small, and know that that’s a good thing.”

Audrey Bailey of Centerton started her business, Brush and Barley, nearly four years ago while her Marine husband was stationed in California and they were expecting their first child. Wanting to stay home with her baby, she began crafting stationery and home decor items that she sold through online platforms like Etsy.com.

It was when they moved back to Northwest Arkansas about three years ago, though, that her business really picked up. Now selling through her Facebook page, she says many of her customers are military spouses from around the world who discovered her on the social media site. She’s now building a website that she hopes to have up and running early next year.

Bailey did her first pop-up on Small Business Saturday, the day after Black Friday when shoppers are encouraged to support local small businesses. She set up inside Bleachers, a sports memorabilia store in downtown Bentonville, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

While she didn’t sell as much as she had hoped, Bailey said she got to talk to a lot of people and make a lot of connections. She and the store owner are talking about scheduling some more events throughout 2019.

Slaton, Schlagenhaft and Bailey have plenty of advice for anyone thinking of opening a pop-up.

Slaton said finding the right partners is key. “I think that it’s been a saving grace for our business, at least from my perspective, that Monica and I are doing this together,” she said. Having someone to bounce ideas off of and make decisions with has been invaluable, she said.

Along with choosing the right business partner, Slaton said its important to develop relationships with the right store owners and venues. Because of the type of merchandise she and Diodati sell, Slaton said it makes more sense for them to be in a coffee shop than in a clothing store, for instance.

Another factor in a successful pop-up is having a specific point of view and sticking to it, she said.

“We have a certain vibe we want people to feel when they walk into our shop,” she said. Part of that vibe entails representing authors whose work has too often been overlooked in the literary world, especially women and members of minority groups.

It’s important to stay true to one’s vision and values, Slaton said. “I think customers respond well to experiences that are authentic,” she said. “They like when they feel the owners are passionate about what they do.”

And finally, she adds, “Don’t be afraid to start small. That’s the benefit of a pop-up.”

S c h l a g e n h a f t n e a t ly summed up her advice to would-be pop-up owners. First, she said, listen to your gut. Second, pay attention to the facts you gather and advice you get from others with more business and retailing experience. And third, “listen to your customers,” she said. “Ask them what they like and don’t like about your products.”

Going through these steps, she said, “you’ll know in your gut that this is a successful thing, that you could grow this on a larger scale.”

Bailey advises simply, “Just do it.”

“Really it’s just about the connection you make with people,” she said. “So don’t sweat the small stuff. Just get out there.”

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