Popup Store Mania: How and When to Go IRL

0:00Hey, business besties. Welcome back to the Female Founder World Podcast. it's Jasmine I'm the creator of Be My Founder World I host this show what else I'm a former fashion and beauty editor I am a failed beauty brand founder a former consultant to UN Women and I'm a new mum we're experimenting with a few different formats to this show and these will drop in addition to our regular weekly founder interviews that you know that you love and this is a test. So if there's a format that we're trying that you like, or if there's something that you don't like, please send us a DM. All feedback is really welcome.

0:41Just find me on Instagram at Jasmine Garnsworthy or find us at Female Founder World. I only want to create programming that you guys really enjoy and that is exactly what you need. So your feedback, it literally drives this show. It drives the entire business, honestly, and I really rely on it. You would have noticed We had this week a resource roundup with Maggie Sellers, who I interviewed on Monday, and that dropped as a bonus episode so we could dive a little bit more into the resources because that was just something I heard you guys really enjoyed from the episodes that we'd be doing. So I thought I'd double down a little bit on that and make them their own little bonus episodes.

1:21Let me know if you like that. Drop a review or send me a DM. That feedback is going to be so, so helpful. Today, you've just got me. I'm going to be covering just a couple of interesting things that are happening in the world of brands and business and what I'm thinking about them at the moment, what I'm seeing happening. And I'll also have a resource for you as we head into the holiday weekend in the US or for the rest of the world, just a regular weekend. First up, I need to talk to you about Hayley Bieber's beauty brand, Rode. And if you're very online, if you're like in this brand and entrepreneurial world, maybe you're sick of it maybe like I hear about road all the time boring and I get it I also feel like I'm getting just a I don't even know what the what the word is I'm just getting flooded with like road content but when this happens I'm always really interested to know what a brand is doing right to get that traction Hayley Bieber is obviously having a big moment she is a very famous human, but not every celebrity creates a brand that hits quite so well.

2:26So I thought this was interesting. They've opened up a short-term pop-up store in New York. I personally will never see inside that store because the wait time apparently is up to five hours. Even today, which is I think a week after it opened, I saw someone post a story on Instagram of the line, and it was still crawling nearly around the block outside the store. The road pop-up, they've called it pocket sized and it was named and launched for the line's new pocket blush which is this like teeny tiny pocket sized blush and lip tint which you know looks great the product looks great beautifully shot all of the things that you would expect from road but the name also reflects the space it's really small i think about 30 people fit in there including store staff so you know when a thousand people turned up before the doors even opened that's what's being reported that number, you can imagine how the content of people in that line and people walking down the street in Soho where the store is, how that fueled the hype of the store, but also like this product launch and the brand.

3:33And I think that's really smart because Rode and Hayley Bieber, the business is apparently going to hit a hundred million in sales this year. She could have afforded a bigger store. Like, let's be honest. I'm sure they could have found something bigger if they wanted, but leaning into that like pocket-sized idea and that concept for the store and also like constraining the ability for people to experience it and creating exclusivity in a world where you know you can order that flash in five seconds online whatever but to be able to experience the store in person you are one of 30 who are in there being able to experience at a certain time not everyone's going to be able to do it you have to manufacture these moments of exclusivity I think a lot in brands and business and that's something that they've done really well in this moment.

4:20What I'm really interested in is what it actually means to open a pop-up store like okay cool Hayley Bieber did it, Rode did it. I am not Hayley Bieber, Female Founder World is not Rode, not the size of Rode yet but I really like the idea. I'd love to do a pop-up store maybe over the holidays where we can feature a bunch of you guys in the store and I don't know create something a little bit special So if anyone wants to get involved in that, shoot me a DM because let's try and make it happen. But there are lots of brands that don't have celebrity founders or lots of VC money behind them who are also creating these pop-up experiences and generating massive queues around the block, getting lots of buzz and heaps of customer generated content from this kind of in real life experience.

5:07and I honestly just think it's it's so smart like Park is a pretty new fashion brand I don't know if you guys have heard of it I'll link it in the show notes it was created by Chelsea Kramer and she's an influencer but not a huge influencer she's got 85 ,000 followers on TikTok so not millions or hundreds of thousands but her pop-up store lasted I think maybe one week it was in Soho in New York and again there was a massive line around the block and I saw content all over Instagram, TikTok. I'd never even heard of Park before the pop-up store. Now I'm trying to get on the podcast. I want to learn all about what they're doing because I just kept seeing them everywhere over the period of this like really short pop-up.

5:47And I think that's really key, right? Like having that constrained, like feeling of exclusivity that makes people kind of like get up and go out and experience it. Whether that is it's only available for a really short amount of time, like a week, or it's a small space. That's something that they did really well. Again, like fitness brand Bala they had a store in New York a little while ago which was this really beautiful space they did events in there we had an event in there maybe you'll remember it it was a couple of years ago now and I started looking to see what it actually cost to rent one of these pop-up space and honestly this just feels so much more doable and straightforward than I would have thought I think I see these these big brands doing it I'm like I feel like normal businesses maybe it's not for us it is for us you can literally just search the address of an existing store on Google and the space and the realtor will often pop up.

6:37You can use platforms like Parasol Projects or Peer Space. They have a bunch of really great spaces and storefronts that you can rent. The cheapest one,$4 ,500 for a week. And I don't know, I feel pretty good that I could personally get that price down. But if you're willing to pop up somewhere a little bit less vibey than Soho in New York, I know that this jewelry brand Ian Charms they were given a rent-free space in Rockefeller Center because they wanted to encourage new cool brands to that space independent founders all of that so there are like definitely opportunities out there for us some of these spaces do require a fit out I know that Ringo Studio did Barley's fit out which was pretty I think that was like pretty intense it looked amazing all in their like pastel colors and it was very beautiful I'm sure it was expensive, but I don't think you need to go that extreme.

7:33Some of them I think could be done pretty cheaply and pretty minimally. And then obviously the other expense is staff, unless you're going to go hang out in the store or you've got a team member that you want to be there all day. But Lisa at Ian Charms, that founder who had the pop-up at Rockefeller Center, she did say to me, look, the staff piece that became really expensive in the end. She's not based in New York. She had to hire people in, but all in all, this is not totally out of the realm of possibility guys I think that there are so many ways that you could make this work whether it's partnering with someone else whether it's around a big moment it's just a really clever way to take your brand from being this take it out of all of the noise on the internet of being this like flat inanimate thing online with all of the other flat intangible things and making it something that people tangibly experience in person.

8:26I just think it's such a powerful brand and community building move and it's more accessible than I thought it was. Before I close out this episode, I have a resource for you and it is our group business coaching call that's happening on Monday, the 8th of July. And it's with Abby Price. She's the founder of a brand called Abode. She does have a physical store in New York. We spoke about it a lot in her interview on the Female Founder World podcast. So if you're interested in trying a bricks and mortar space, whether it's a pop-up or it's permanent, come to that call and ask her about it. She has built something really cool.

9:04They're now known for embroidery. They have this very kind of fresh, fun take on embroidery. They do a lot of partnerships and she's just a really interesting founder. You need to be in our group chat to be able to access it. So make sure you sign up and And then you'll be able to RSVP in the events tab of the group chat. A recording of that call will be available to all of our paid business bestie members. Okay, guys, chat to you next week. I just wanted to jump in and end the show with a quick thank you and shout out to all of our paid business bestie subscribers. For$9 a month, business besties bypass literally years of networking by getting access to all of the people that you need to build your dream business.

9:48Besties get access to exclusive in-person meetups in cities all across the US, Australia, and the UK. You get access to our group chat and you get to bypass the wait list. You also get invited to exclusive monthly group business coaching call sessions where you can speak to experts and founders and ask them all of those questions that you just can't Google. It's$9 a month. You can cancel anytime. Head to bestie.femalefounderworld.com or click the link in the show notes for more. Thank you.