Pop-up shops, a growing trend in Windsor

By Kamryn Cusumano

Small business owners in Windsor are choosing pop-up shops as their model considering all the benefits it offers.

Gone are the days of brick and mortar for some start-up companies. “Pop-ups” are temporary shops set up in existing businesses where both store owner and pop-up vendor find mutual benefit. Windsor is seeing a growing popularity of pop-up shops allowing small businesses to operate with little capital risk.

“I think it’s a more democratic model,” said Julie Hall, a horticulturist and co-owner of Cultivar, a local botanical pop-up shop. “It doesn’t rely on space or land ownership so it’s more accessible for people.”

Hall remembers the term “pop-up” being coined about eight to nine years ago.

Cultivar will be operating for a year this spring. Hall said she relies solely on pop-ups for sales, allowing Cultivar to operate with little to no overhead costs. Hall said because there such little capital investment there is lower risk, allowing for more creativity.

According to Hall, brick and mortar shops contact her business for pop-up opportunities. She said partnering and sharing a customer base raises the profile of the brick and mortar business when they invite companies they feel aligned with, or they feel will bring something to their shop. Hall said markets generally require vendors to pay a rental fee while pop-ups tend to be free due to the mutual benefit of both parties.

Ellery Hawkes and Simon Johnson are veterans in the pop-up scene, entering their fourth year in business as co-owners of Simon Steeps, an organic herbal tea company.

“We didn’t know much about running a business,” said Hawkes. “This was a really immediate way of learning how to run a business and get our names out there and to see what the public thinks.”

Hawkes said pop-ups are a low-cost and low-energy way to test products, sales ability and gauge community response. Having gained the experience they needed, Hawkes said they are ready to evolve out of the pop-up shops and move into retail.

While brick and mortar might be the goal for some pop-up shops, many owners are content with smaller scale operations.

Annie Vanrivong started Wolf and Rebel, a custom hand-stamped key chain business, in October 2018 and said she relies equally on pop-ups and online sales.

“Pop-ups are a trend that I don’t see going anywhere soon,” said Vanrivong who has created a customer base from attending these events.

The decision to become a pop-up shop was originally to gain exposure and network, said Vanrivong. With the help of social media, Wolf and Rebel has become a well-known business in the community.

“Social media can be beneficial in so many ways,” said Vanrivong. “Right now I have two daughters and I have a husband and our income is just solely my business. [Social media is] a new thing, and I think it’s really powerful.”

All three businesses use Instagram and the owners said it is a necessary component of each business’s success. According to Hall, Cultivar relies solely on the free-sharing platform for marketing and Hawkes uses it to stay connected with their customers.

For those interested in pop-up businesses Vanrivong said searching the Facebook “events page” for pop-ups is a great tool for people to see where they are taking place locally.