Most people who’ve run pop ups are more than willing to talk and share their experiences. If you find a pop up shop that’s similar to your idea, get in touch and ask for advice.
A number of organisations have been working with pop ups for a while, and they all try to provide help and support to people starting their own pop ups.
These organisations are all small with limited time and resources, so do make sure the answers aren’t available elsewhere and that you know exactly what you want when you approach them:
Check the organisation’s website first to see whether the answers are available.
Read any documents, such as reports or guides.
If you can’t find an answer, get in touch and be specific and clear about what you’re asking.
Empty Shops Network
Set up by Revolutionary Arts, this project aims to freely share resources, provide example projects and act as a focus for finding new uses for high streets. You’ll find good information here, as Revolutionary Arts has been running pop up projects in shops, churches and public spaces across the UK since 2000.
Renew Newcastle
This project aims to find artists, cultural projects and community groups to use and maintain empty buildings in the Australian city of Newcastle until they become commercially viable or are redeveloped. Renew Newcastle has inspired similar projects in other cities across the world, including Leefstand.
Leefstand
Renew Newcastle is a direct inspiration for this project in the Netherlands, which has worked with a number of organisations in Rotterdam to create inspiring new uses for empty shops.
3Space
With a portfolio across the UK, 3Space is effectively a letting agent for not-for-profit and charitable organisations. 3Space is developing resources to help people run pop ups.
The Meanwhile Project
Led by the Locality (formerly the Development Trusts Association), The Meanwhile Project began as a UK government-funded response to the problem of empty shops. The Meanwhile Project works with landlords to save them money until more commercial tenants are found.
Other information sources
A number of websites are dedicated to the pop up phenomenon and are a great short cut to find out about pop ups past and present:
London Pop Ups: A listing site for pop ups in the UK’s capital, updated weekly.
The Popupspace Blog: A look at pop ups and the issues surrounding them.
The Pop-Up City: A blog about shops, mobile pop ups like food vans and other temporary projects.
The media have fallen in love with pop ups, and their articles often give valuable insights into what pop ups are really like and what they really achieve.
Of course, search engines are a good place to start finding those breadcrumbs. Commonly used phrases include: pop up shop, pop up store, pop up restaurant, pop up, temporary shop, meanwhile, meanwhile space and meantime.
You can also find up to the minute information using Twitter. Search for the hashtags #emptyshops, #popupshop and #popuppeople.
Try to use alternative search engines as well as Google – for example, type pop up shop report into Google and then into Bing, and you get very different results.