Strategically situated in the heart of Meatpacking, Instagram’s IRL Shop pop-up showcased its “greatest hit” for spring/summer, celebrating its favorite minority-owned small businesses in the home, beauty, and lifestyle categories.
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Retail
There is nothing more recognizably NYC than hot dog stands, “showtime” subway performances, and bodegas. In the past couple of years, we’ve seen the trend of brands creating their own pop-up bodega to showcase their products. The juxtaposition of mixing high-end designs with the humble corner store aesthetic breeds an authentic and effective experience. Kith takes over a Carrol Garden’s corner store bodega to launch their collab with Kith Treats x Cheerios for one day only.
My trip to Adidas. The store Nike would have built in the past.
This season, thanks to the Nike running store in the Flat Iron district, I've been happily sporting a few pairs of Nike's and I've made a few satisfying trips to that location where I first noticed Nike's new commitment to service. So, when I read about the new Soho flagship I was so excited to get over to see this new breed of Nike stores.
Why?
While stores closing and downsizing is a painful short term reality there lies opportunity. Kenneth Cole will close nearly all of its stores, 63 in total to focus on his online business. It looks like he will keep flagship stores in NYC and Arlington, Virginia. As hard as it might seem for those of us in the retail world, it makes sense. The reality is, Kenneth Cole will still have a need to connect with his fans in the real world, just not through an expensive fixed retail store format. He will also still have a need to sell his product in the real world, just not at his outlet store format anymore. So we can bemoan another round of store closings or we can get cracking on what is next for these brands. How can we repurpose physical retail space to be more nimble and temporary? What are other real world formats that will put him in touch with his fans without the long term investment of a store? How are we making it easy for brands to pop-up across the nation without signing a 10 year store lease? As retail designers and developers are we dreaming big enough and are we moving fast enough?