‘Pop-up stores’ add buzz

Orlando Sentinel

ORLANDO, Fla. — Here today and gone within months, companies large and small are opening more temporary storefronts in malls and strip centers.

National-brand “pop-up stores” and tiny shops testing the market are becoming the retail world’s version of a marriage of convenience.

Commitment-shy store owners are setting up shop for just a few months in retail centers jilted by some of their more established tenants.

Typically, leases last for several years. But businesses that want shorter leases are finding malls and shopping plazas more willing and able to accommodate them.

“It’s better they have the unit occupied even if you’re not collecting full rent on the space,” said David Marks, an Orlando-based consultant for retail real estate. “You’re probably going to see more of them, not less of them, over the next couple of years.”

Landlords aren’t the only ones who benefit. Companies use temporary storefronts for a variety of reasons. Sometimes, they want to create a sense of urgency in shoppers. And from big-name brands to start-up businesses, retailers also use temporary locations to test new concepts.

At Florida Mall in Orlando, three temporary stores recently opened. In the past, “we’ve never had to have very many,” general manager Brian Peters said. But lately, he said, “we’ve had a few extra opportunities.”

Those opportunities would be spaces left behind by Bombay Co., KB Toys and Club Libby Lu, all national chains that went out of business or shuttered mass numbers of locations.

Kiwi, a trendy clothing boutique, opened in June and its lease is expected to expire by the end of this year. National accessories chain Bijoux Terner opened in March and should close at summer’s end.

A2Z Toys, however, is expected to extend its lease and become a long-term occupant, Peters said.

That often has happened in the past, retail consultants say. Short-term leases have typically been “a way to experiment, create an incubator for a tenant,” Marks said.

Simon Property Group, which owns Florida Mall, has always had a short-term leasing department though these days, “we may be more aggressive in terms of courting these types of retailers,” spokesman Les Morris said.

At Orlando Fashion Square, Best Friends Puppy Boutique recently departed after its brief lease expired. The mall has other short-term tenants but would not disclose them.

At Orlando Premium Outlets, a no-frills Burberry outlet aimed solely at children opened last month in the space formerly occupied by a departed Girbaud store. The children’s store will close in the fall.

Tommy Hilfiger also has a temporary clearance outlet at the mall.

At that center, which is 100 percent leased, “we see this more as a marketing event,” said Michele Rothstein, a spokeswoman for Simon Property Group’s outlet mall division.

“It’s nice to have something short-term that has a sense of immediacy to get people to the center. ... There is a fun shopping adventure to these temporary stores as well.”