Hosting a popup in NYC

Our most recent popup involved the launch of the Minted New York x Saucony Triumph 4. As we planned this event, we tried to apply the lessons from our first popup last October (2023) to streamline the process.

Including dollar figures in this write-up will hopefully help other brand owners understand what something like this may cost.

Location (in our experience) is going to be one of the more significant cost drivers and something I never really want to compromise on. Brand visibility and proximity to foot traffic are extremely important. There are plenty of services out there that will list “popup/short-term” retail spaces for lease. In our experience, if you are okay with getting a bit scrappy, biking around, finding vacant retail spaces, and then calling the number associated with the space will lead you to better options. In a market like NYC, you have many retail locations in prime real estate sitting vacant, and if you can tell a good story, many of the owners/leasing agents will work with you on something short-term. In our most recent short-term lease, this was the case for us - we ended up on Broome Street in SoHo, right off Broadway. It ended up running us $10,000 for the space and $613 to get the proper event insurance coverage (required by the owner).

Current total: $10,613

Once the space is locked in, you will have to do some furnishing. The space felt big for the release of just a shoe. In developing ways to shrink the space, we used drywall to simulate the “Post No Bills” green walls used by construction sites around NYC (below).

Generally, these walls get a wheat pasting treatment and become advertising space for brands looking to use that form of guerilla marketing.

We wanted to bring this same look and feel… inside. It offered us an excellent way to further connect something from NYC to the inside of our space while allowing us to shrink down the “retail” facing portion (below)

This temp wall ended up costing $7,185.75 and the posters were $653.25

Current Total: $18,452

For furniture - we used a prop rental company based in Brooklyn. This place (acme prop rental) is incredible. They have a plethora of different “props” that you can rent, and the nicest part of their business model is that they will deliver and pick up for an added fee. We got everything from fake plants to benches, mirrors, and rugs. I had initially ordered, got the products into the space, realized it looked a bit bare, and submitted another order for more stuff. All of this was delivered within 24 hours and in the space.

Current Total: $24,393.5

For the exterior, we used full-coverage vinyl with the box graphic and the date/time of the popup. Based on what we learned from the first popup, we chose vinyl that lets light through instead of opaque vinyl. We were told the tradeoff is a less “clear” graphic, but it turned out well, and the added light kept the space illuminated.

Current Total: $25,792.94

I am going to lump together security and hired help because there isn't that much to talk about and it is pretty straightforward ($2,400)

Current Total: $28,192.94

Last but not least is the expense of technology. This includes the point-of-sale systems and the one month of internet that you need to pay for to ensure the space has WIFI, etc.

• POS: $927.22

• Internet: $29.03

Final Total: $29,149.19

If we were to add in the smaller expenses that aren’t really worth writing about I think the total comes closer to $30/$31k. Ultimately, as the brand continues to grow I anticipate each popup will become more and more costly as we try to improve upon the last.

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