A pop-up store works on the principle of ‘here today, gone tomorrow’ with the stores tending to open on short leases in otherwise underused spaces.

Originally the nature of these stores appealed to smaller more independent brands that were able to offer a unique retail experience to their consumers.

The marketplace is changing however with larger brands beginning to experiment with pop-up stores following their success and growing consumer following.

Paul Moody, partner and retail expert in our London office focused on the significant growth in food and beverage pop-up stores across the country:

“In particular there has been considerable growth in artisan food producers and street foods over the last few years and consumers are now able to experience a huge range of cuisines and concepts.

Their success has been facilitated by the development of pop-up food locations which are branded and run by single businesses, which sub-let space to selected traders

These large scale food pop-ups have typically been located in empty spaces which may be scheduled for redevelopment or in public spaces close to transport hubs and offices.

The advantage of these ‘umbrella’ operators is that by vetting prospective tenants they can ensure hygiene standards are met as well as guaranteeing consumers are provided with a variety of interesting and innovative concepts and cuisine types.

This style of letting will also benefit the pop-up tenants who receive the convenience of a straight forward tenancy agreement and the proximity to other food operators will undoubtedly generate higher pedestrian foot fall and increase consumer dwell time.

The street food concept has also been embraced by some shopping centre landlords, who see the benefit of providing evolving food offers to create vibrancy and maintain consumer interest.

One-off food pop-ups do however come with their own set of challenges. Putting a food and beverage pop-up, with full cooking and eating facilities where planning consent is required, into a space that wasn’t designed or intended for that purpose, will be much more complicated and costly than utilising an empty former restaurant, takeaway, bar or pub.”