A bit of history: origins and birth of the pop-up store

Key takeaways

• The pop-up store was born from brands’ desire to surprise, create a unique moment, and offer a memorable experience, while meeting consumers’ growing need for entertainment.
• Its earliest forms came from street vendors, markets, kiosks, and food trucks — the first versions of mobile shops appearing and disappearing quickly.
• The “modern” pop-up store emerged in the late 20th century in the United States, through temporary marketing initiatives set up in vacant spaces.
• Today, renting a pop-up shop in Paris has become commonplace: every year, 150 to 200 temporary stores open in the heart of the city, showing how widespread the concept has become in contemporary retail.
• Originally built as lightweight structures assembled and dismantled rapidly, pop-up stores have since become institutionalized and evolved into a strategic marketing tool.
• The concept’s evolution includes key milestones: Swatch’s bold marketing initiatives in the 1980s, the influence of The Ritual Expo in Los Angeles in 1997, and the broader adoption of the term “pop-up store” in the 2000s.
• In Europe, Nike led the way in 2008 by opening several pop-up stores built around exclusive events, inspiring many other brands.
• Comme des Garçons popularized a radical version of the pop-up store with its “Guerilla Stores,” set up in raw, unconventional, and spectacular locations, becoming a reference in experiential marketing.

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The pop-up store was born from a need for experience and entertainment on the part of the consumer and the desire to surprise and create a memory on the part of brands. By definition, a pop-up store appears and disappears with the idea of creating an ephemeral and unforgettable moment. In order to create an appointment On a limited period thus creating this effect of exceptional products not to be missed.

In the history of the pop-up store, these are mobile stores. It started with markets and food stands, such as ice cream vans, fish & chips or even hot dogs.

Over the years, brands were inspired of this practice and the Pop-up store “marketing”was born in America at the end of 20th century. Today, the term pop up store is used to define pop-up retail brand stores that temporarily set up shop in empty spaces. According to a study (Challenges, 2018), every year 150 to 200 pop-up shops invade the center of Paris.

The origins of the pop-up store

Originally the pop up store was a Pop-up store a small surface that can be assembled and disassembled very quickly thanks to the use of a lightweight structure specially designed for this type of concept. By definition, street vendors and their stalls are considered pop up stores. Markets, hot dog stands, ice cream vans... are therefore the very origin of the principle of quickly installing your products in a place on a fixed term and to repack them just as quickly. Over the centuries, the pop up store has completely become reinvented over the years. The concept was structured more particularly at the end of the 90s in America before arriving in Europe. Today the pop up store is a real marketing asset for a brand and a experiment rich in the eyes of consumers.

The evolution of the pop-up store

The reinvention of the pop up store made history in America, on the West Coast. Although in the 1980s, Nicolas Hayek, creator and innovator of the Swatch watch, took advantage of major events to enlist himself with his products whose sole marketing idea was: “We come to make a noise, then we leave”. It is more particularly thanks to the event The Ritual Expo, which took place in Los Angeles in 1997 that the pop up store was democratized. This event, welcoming both artists and creators of street culture such as urban dances or rap concerts, has inspired big companies American women finding the original concept. And in the 2000s, this concept called “pop up store” appeared and was democratized.

This concept was later taken up by major retailers such as Walmart, Target, or JCPenney, who at the time were already looking for relevant ways to highlight their brand and their products through new marketing strategies. The idea is to create a moment of “ephemeral buzz” to surprise its customers, all consumer sectors quickly got started. From that moment on, and with the idea of always being more surprising, a trend was born: to bring to life a unforgettable moment and unique to its client.

First pop up store in Europe: Nike

Overall the 2000s were a significant year for the pop-up store market. The arrival of pop-up stores in Europe is carried out by the famous sports brand, Nike. The brand took advantage of the Beijing Olympic Games to open pop up stores in seven different cities during the summer of 2008. By mixing exceptional place (pop up store on board a barge for the city of Paris), to a selection of very limited products And a series of events (visits by athletes and celebrities), Nike creates exceptions for consumers and its concept quickly inspires luxury brands and the fashion world. Other consumer sectors such as agri-food brands or companies such as SNCF quickly followed.

The impact of Comme des Garcons on the pop up store

The Japanese brand Comme des Garçons, founded by renowned designer Rei Kawakubo, also drew inspiration from pop-up store marketing strategies. When it opened its first temporary shop in Berlin in 2004, the brand named these spaces “Guerilla Stores” and quickly found success with a strategy entirely its own.

Betting everything on layout and location, Comme des Garçons set up in places without electricity and sometimes even in abandoned buildings. The staging was nothing short of spectacular and was unanimously praised by consumers seeking originality.

Before long, “Guerilla Stores” began popping up in cities across Europe, generating an unexpected wave of marketing buzz for the brand.

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Conclusion

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The history of the pop-up store reveals an agile concept, able to adapt to each era while preserving its core purpose: creating a rare, surprising, and memorable moment. From its nomadic origins to its adoption by some of the world’s biggest brands, it has become a true marker of innovation in retail.

Its evolution shows how the ephemeral pop up shops can become a strategic strength — a way to build a community, communicate, test ideas, and deliver ever more creative experiences. Even today, the pop-up store continues to inspire and reinvent itself, confirming its central role in emerging commercial and cultural practices.

Sources:

marketing definitions

Toute-la-franchise

Fashion Industry Broadcast

Capital - The big fashion for pop-up shops

Mypopupstore

Hypebeast