New pop-up/ pop-down retail craze

Essentially, they’re not even shops due to their ephemeral lifespan. They’re simply a way of selling.

This is how the latest “pop-up” from the US «Toys’r’us» group arrived at Albufeira Retail Park last Saturday 11th November. It occupies 655 square metres and will be on site until 7th January.

“We’ve been looking for a good location in this part of Portugal for a while now, and this “pop-up” opportunity - which has been very successful in the US and other European countries – is a one that we’d like to expand throughout the country”, Ricardo Quiroga in charge of Toys’r’us Iberia explains in a press release.

In large centres where purchase power is high (London, Paris, New York, Tokyo), the “pop-up” strategy has reaped mega-rewards for many big-name multinationals: there are “pop-ups” for fashion and sports brands, home electronics, mobile phones – even car showrooms and food chains have taken advantage of the new sales trend.

Here of course, things are a little different. Only last week, Macário Correia – in his capacity of president of AMAL (the association of borough councils), admitted that the latest figures from INE (the national statistics institute) show that “unemployment in the Algarve is galloping, there’s been a visible loss of both public and private investment over the last few years and, as a result, local people’s purchasing power has not increased”. This isn’t in the end very important for the Albufeira “pop-up” as it’s not here to stay. It doesn’t need to concern itself with long-term sustainability.

But maybe we can learn something from this “here today, gone tomorrow” marketing strategy? Perhaps the key to the Algarve’s future is in becoming a “pop-up” region?! We could pop-up for special events: Carnival, Easter, Bank Holiday weekends, etc. – and try and attract people with a world of novelties and promotions (as well as tourist animation…) . The “Pop-up Algarve”: come to think of it, isn’t that what we’ve always been?