Photo: Century 21 Stores
Century 21 pops up near Macy’s Herald Square for the holidays
Century 21, the New York-based off-price department store, opened its first pop-up for the holidays. The 40,000-square-foot, two-level shop is located in the heart of Herald Square, about a half a block from Macy’s flagship.
Beyond holiday selling, the location represents a marketing vehicle for its 13 locations, including its seven-story flagship store in the Financial District that spans 220,000 square feet.
Promising an “Insta-worthy, festively fashionable must-stop, must-shop,” Century 21 said in a release that the first floor is bathed in Century 21’s signature red — including facade, doors, rugs and mannequins. Additionally, a collaboration with Herlanderart and claudia isabel studio produced an in-store Instagrammable installation of luxe gold displays with matching product offerings.
“We can’t wait to paint the town red and bring the gift of fabulous fashion — at prices that feel like a miracle — to our customers from our hometown and tourists from around the world,” said Century 21’s CMO Michael Kustermann in a statement.
The pop-up will be open from Nov. 1 through Jan. 11.
Among other major chains, Kohl’s for the fourth straight year will be opening a holiday pop-up in New York City. Open only three days (Nov. 7 to 10), the shop in the SoHo district will showcase exclusive brands, but likewise includes interactive window displays, personalization stations, live caroling and mocktails for Instagrammable moments.
“Engaging experiences like this provide a great backdrop for capturing and sharing social media-friendly content and to showcase our portfolio of new and existing brands,” said Kohl’s CMO Greg Revelle.
Kohl’s doesn’t have any permanent locations in New York City.
New to holiday pop-ups is Yeti, the trendy drinkware and cooler brand that is opening one this holiday in its hometown of Austin and another in Dallas.
With only three stores and plans to open six in 2020, the pop-ups are expected to enable Yeti to cost effectively explore new markets and learn about retailing. Matt Reintjes, CEO, said last week on Yeti’s third-quarter conference call, “We like the speed to set up. We like the cost. We like the muscle we’re building operationally as a team to support it.”
- Century 21 Stores Brings Designer Brands At Amazing Prices To Herald Square – Century 21 Stores
- Century 21 Puts Up Its First NYC Pop-up – Women’s Wear Daily
- Century 21 opens a new pop-up in NYC’s Herald Square – Fashion United
- Kohl’s will seek social media buzz for holiday shopping season at Manhattan pop-up shop – Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
- Kohl’s Is Popping Up In NYC This Holiday, But You Can Shop Our Favorite Fashion Pieces Early – Pop Sugar
- Yeti Holdings INC (YETI) Q3 2019 Earnings Call Transcript – The Motley Fool
Discussion Questions
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Is there much difference in the opportunity for holiday season pop-ups than at other times of the year? Do see the primary benefits of pop-ups as marketing vehicles, sales generators or something else?
Poll
BrainTrust
Georganne Bender
Principal, KIZER & BENDER Speaking
Rich Kizer
Principal, KIZER & BENDER Speaking
Pop-up shops are both sales and marketing vehicles; timing is everything. It makes sense to open pop-ups during the holidays because consumers are in full-on shopping mode. We’re all talking about the shorter shopping season, retailers have to get their piece of the holiday pie while they can.
Holiday foot traffic provides a critical mass of shoppers and sales volume that just doesn’t exist in the balance of the year. The math works for all parties. For one retailer it works for three days. For another retailer it works for two+ months. There’s plenty of space available and plenty of retailers who’d like to grow. Let the negotiations begin.
Pop-up shops are great ways to test markets, expand the brand name and limit the usual operational finances required to open a physical store with a long term lease. Holiday selling is a great time to set up these types of shop since footfall is higher and the shoppers seek newness. Retailers should have holiday pop-up shops as an ongoing strategy. Kudos to C21 for getting market access in such a thriving area, this is a brilliant move by the company and CMO. C21 is the best kept secret in NYC and I’m glad to see them get their name out there more!
It’s a world of change. And this seasonal time will offer five times the foot traffic, and that translates to five times the opportunities to create sales and thrilled customers. Competitive retailers are not standing still, so everyone who desires market penetration and sales growth cannot neglect any affordable opportunity for expansion of efforts in today’s market. There should be no surprise here. This is retail marketing on steroids. And it is brilliant.
Many retailers do the majority of their annual sales from T-Day to Xmas, so pop-ups make huge sense, to them of course (not realtors). Century 21’s pop up looks pretty cool too, so if I’m a Macy’s client, I’d definitely check it out. Nice idea and good execution.