With many stores and restaurants forced to close in the recession, the transient model of retailing may be the perfect solution in our attention- and cash-starved era. The pop-up concept - a store or venue that’s meant to last a few weeks - seems to be here to stay.
Pop-up clothing stores have been part of the retail landscape for a long time. Comme des Garcons opened “guerrilla” shops in places like Berlin, Singapore and Athens over the years. But the get-it-while-you-can ethos has expanded. There’s limited edition clothing by Jil Sander for the Japanese retailer Uniqlo; art shows that take over restaurants, and restaurants that serve midnight-only burgers. Maybe it’s the thrill of the chase. Or, maybe, when everything is filtered, vetted and aggregated, happening upon the unexpected and temporary is refreshing.
For Amy Smith-Stewart, a New York gallery owner, being in a white box space was confining and predictable, so she became a roving gallery. “When you have a gallery with a particular location, a particular address, people take it for granted,” she told The Times. “ Totally antithetical to the model, I’m more interested in the discovery of art - not only going to see art, but going to find art.”
A loft in downtown Manhattan was recently used to combine a popup store, gallery and performance space . Called ThirtyDaysNY, the happening was staged by Joshua White and David Kramer, owners of an independent bookstore in Los Angeles called Family. Mr. Kramer told The Times that at mainstream stores, “You’re aware all the time that you’re being marketed at, rather than being shown the stuff that the people who run it love.” Visitors had only from April 7 to May 7 to get there.
On Broadway, many acts are shortlived . There is little chance of seeing a 2010 Tony Award winner this summer because most are either already closed or had short runs . “Red,” the winner for best play, closed June 27. “Fences,” the best play revival, starring Tony winners Denzel Washington and Viola Davis, was to close July 11. Catherine-Zeta Jones, the best actress winner for “A Little Night Music,” has already left town. Winners for best play in 2009 (“God of Carnage”) and 2008 (“August: Osage County”) each ran for a year or more after winning the Tony.
Catch it if you can is the motto not only on Broadway, but also on city streets. Trucks are leaving storefronts behind and serving artisanal ice cream, Liege-style waffles and Korean tacos . Customers follow Twitter feeds to find out where the trucks may (or may not) show up , and then embark on what feels like a scavenger hunt.
“There’s the serendipity factor,” Kim Ima, who runs the Treats Truck in New York, told The Times. For customers, she said, finding her “seems like it’s always this thrilling surprise.”
Maybe the thrill of the unexpected and fleeting is all that is needed after a steady stream of RSS feeds from people and places that already share similar tastes. Each show, each store and each moment exists, as Ms. Smith-Stewart said, “a little bit like a rumor.” And perhaps that’s a good thing.
ANITA PATIL
Pop-up concepts are proliferating everywhere. Chego! restaurant in Los Angeles sells Korean tacos from trucks around town. / AXEL KOESTER FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
