© 2024 WSHU
NPR News & Classical Music
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

The Brief Life of 'Pop-Up' Stores

The Kodak One gallery in New York's SoHo district closed after just three weeks.
Jim Zarroli, NPR
The Kodak One gallery in New York's SoHo district closed after just three weeks.
Giovanni Adams, a barista at the Galleria illy in SoHo. Its Italian parent company is trying to expand into the U.S. coffee market.
Jim Zarroli, NPR /
Giovanni Adams, a barista at the Galleria illy in SoHo. Its Italian parent company is trying to expand into the U.S. coffee market.

In a marketplace cluttered with new products, companies will do just about anything to grab the public's attention. Now, some companies are using short-lived "pop-up" stores to generate a little buzz.

In New York's SoHo district, some shops hawking cappuccino, imported beer or digital cameras are open a few weeks or months before closing. That's just long enough to stir up interest, but not too long to grow stale.

Illy, the Italian coffee company, hopes to get the word out about its brand in America. It runs the Galleria illy, where customers can sip espressos while admiring photos taken by local art students.

Kodak set up its own gallery in SoHo. In the three weeks it was open, visitors couldn't actually buy anything. But they could talk to the staff about Kodak products. To attract interest, the company offered to scan photos and put them on the Web or DVDs.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Jim Zarroli is an NPR correspondent based in New York. He covers economics and business news.