Pop-up Stores
Sometimes a bad economy for the average business can mean opportunities for a small number of others. Such is the case (that is the case, that is the situation) for commercial property owners (those who own buildings that are rented to businesses) in the current recession (bad economic times). Many shopping centers have empty spaces because so many stores have gone out of business (closed down). Property owners are thus (therefore) looking for ways to make money, and have discovered that they can rent these spaces for short periods of time to seasonal business. A seasonal business is one that can only survive certain (specific) times during the year.
For example, this weekend is Halloween in the U.S. Many parents want to buy costumes (clothes worn by actors or children pretending to be someone else) for their children. Stores can only really sell these costumes during the few weeks before Halloween; afterwards, no one will want to buy them until next year. Selling Halloween costumes is thus called a seasonal business, because a costume store would want to rent a retail (shopping) space at a mall (a place with many stores) only for a short amount of time.
These short-term stores are now being called pop-up stores. To pop up means to appear suddenly. Many holiday stores (mostly for Christmas and Hanukkah) are now “popping up” at malls that were empty a few months ago (and will be empty again in January, when the pop-up stores close). One of the most popular pop-up stores this fall is Toys “R” Us, a large company that sells toys and games for children. (The R stands for the verb “are,” and yes, this is an ungrammatical sentence. It should be “we,” not “us,” as in the sentence “We are toys.” But this is a name, not a proper sentence, and I guess the company decided people would remember this name better.)
It isn’t clear (it is unknown) if these pop-up stores will continue to exist after the U.S. economy recovers (gets better, healthier), since retail mall owners prefer that their tenants (people or companies renting from them) have leases (contracts agreeing to rent a space) longer than just a month or two.
~Jeff
October 29th, 2009 at 8:20 am
I think there is always room for Pop-up stores, special holidays such as fourth july, st valentine´s day, christmast are opportunities for such type of business, mainly the so called street vendors, many of these stores are installed in empty lots on the streets….
As usual very interesting comment Jeff
Rodrigo
October 29th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
You can see all the signs of halloween rush ( made up, a coinage of mine) down here as well.
Dear Jeff,
Children with happy faces holding tightly to big boxes while daydreaming about the Halloween parties they are going to, their parents a few steps behind with their pensive faces for the money the just threw away , and finaly, gramys and grand pas in candy stores looking for the most economy packs of candies all denote that the gripping hallowon is upon us.
October 29th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
Congratulations to my American friends. Today it has been known America’s economy grew a 3.5% last quarter and thus it has achieved to go out from a threatening deep economic crisis. It is a good signal for everyone all over the world, because apart from the internal consequences there, America will also be able to performance as a real engine to fuel plenty of other ecomomies through the world trade.
Nevertheless, there will be still a real concern and many people suffering for the scarcity of jobs, the closure of many companies and the actual changes that each convulsive situation achieves to impose on us, but little by little all of us will be abe to go out too.
Best regards from Spain,
Julio (Jack).-
October 29th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
Hi.!
Thank Jeff for this interesting topic. We really live in a crazy world where no-suspicious things can appear.!!
As we also have “Toys R Us” in France, we also see “pop-up” areas in our towns from many years…
It’s about our homeless who are given a roof in subway stations during cold winter nights.
I think it’s a good think to optimise actions, areas, making charity or money.
Now, let’s think about our nature optimisation!!
Bye
Sylvain
October 29th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
We need Pop-Up stores here in Spain and I think it is just a good idea for reccesion´s time as it may be a good way of doing some money to many people that haven´t work now.
Sure EE.UU. is an easier country than mine to do this kind of business because all is less complicated. You can rent, open and close a business with so few papers and laws that help people to react the economy of your city, state, or even your country.
Here all is more difficult and you have to fill so many papers and do too many asking for at the city hall or the minister of bla, bla, bla, if someone wants to open a shop that it is imposible to open that way you infom us, for so few time, really imposible and of course reccesion is growing up every moment, day by day, month after month…..till when?. No body knows, may be Mr. Zapatero?…, well I don´t think so.
May be we have just what we have been asking for, one of the worst goverments along years of all democracy years and also the worst opposition that anybody could imagine for this time of crisis.
Thank you Jeff, it is a very good post that shows us the way of doing things over there, just the opposit than here, my
poor country.
It is also a little difficult as you use a lot of new words to improve our vocabulary.
Yes, you are the one Jeff, thank you so much. emiliano
October 29th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
Disregarding the condition of the market, the world will always find dedicated people finding ways to contour crises (any of it), like the pop-up stores. But looking at the root of the problem, to succeed it is necessary that governments, serious ones, provide the basic transformation tool: education. In a developing country it seems that the struggle to survive, to have a decent life, occurs every day. I hope that our leaders (and our voters) are looking for it, and running for it. Congratulations to those who decide to change our world in better place. Congratulations and thanks to you ESLPodcast.
Vlad
October 30th, 2009 at 1:44 am
Hi ! I like your opinions , Vlad . We should like to know where you are from . As you are a new friend for us .
All the best for you all ,
Tania
October 30th, 2009 at 4:25 am
Life is a dance. Live it gracefully
Halloween with all pentagrams , senatic rituals,creepy symboles, carved pumpkines ,and whatnot realy creeps me out. Honest, it bumes me out mainly because I always get to do all the make-believe rituals alone.
I loiter idealy while others rush purposfully, and this is the story of my life.Man, sometimes these stuff get under my skin.
Seriously , I have to start working on my spelling.
Sorry , for all the hooey and all the doo doos.after all , English is all I have . Besides , it is the only woodoo that I do do relatively well( LoL)
A to be English student, not get there yet.
Peter
October 30th, 2009 at 4:35 am
I loiter idly,
Man ,spelling really gets me
Sorry for the doo-doo
Halloween is around the corner.it is not just me, In this time of the year everybody tends to use creepy words.
Don’t be judgemental please
October 30th, 2009 at 4:41 am
Guys, give the blog a halloweeny kind of look using lots of sacred and desacreded terms
Ha ha ha
Crazy stuff
October 30th, 2009 at 5:51 am
Congratulation for all.
This recession in a world problem than we all ne4eds sees it with trust.
there is a saying: for the weak, the challenge is one reason to justify their failures. For a strong opportunity for new conquests.
pesquisar.
Best reguards.
October 30th, 2009 at 7:59 pm
Guys ,
I do think that economy is rebounding. I am still juggling two part-time jobs ,and they are not fulfilling ,or rewarding at all. Both of them rotates . By that I mean ,I am not given a fixed timetable. Sometimes I do night shifts ,and sometimes I am moved to evening shift . The kicker is in both shifts, I get cabin fever ,big time. In addition,
none of my vocations( sarcasm) is even remotely related to my field of studies, neither here nor back home. No mean to sulk or snide. Take it as an eye opener.
I am doing kind of administrative jobs, which is very demeaning .and I have been looking hard for a descent ,proper job since the economy hit the rock bottom.But , My soul-searching havn’t got me anywhere yet.
Honest to you guys ,I don’t give a rat a.s because sooner or later my qualifications work its way pass the depression.
Keep in mind that in the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.
The hell with numbers ,I am a living proof.
October 30th, 2009 at 8:42 pm
Dear jeff,
I just finished studying the latest learning guide. It is the best passing-time ever.exceedingly educational jeff. I said before that the learning guide is cheap at the price. I stand corrected : it is dirt cheap at the price,a totally basement price.
Jeff and Lucy
You won our heart voicing ur knowledge , then you won our heart and mind jazzing it up with the learning guide.
The best electronic English text book ever.
I didn’t start learning English with you, but definitly I will finish it with you.
Yours
Peter
October 30th, 2009 at 10:22 pm
There you go guys, it is 2:18 am and I m up working. I m totaly beat. Infact , it is catching up to me. I feel like one those drug-addled people.oh, such a froth!
Sleep tight guys,
October 31st, 2009 at 12:40 am
Hi ! You are right , Paulo . I suppose you are a strong person .
Tania
October 31st, 2009 at 1:32 am
Hi ! I know about Halloween only from the books . A traditional Irish Halloween Jack-o-lantern linked by the Irish legend of Stingy Jack .
Many families that celebrate Halloween carve a pumpkin into a frightening or comical face and place it on their doorstep after dark .
The children wear costumes inspired by classic horror films like Frankenstein and Dracula , The Mummy .
Reading the news , I saw that Dracula legend revived in a new “Dracula” movie . His castle is placed in Transylvania – an historical area from Romania .
Johnny Depp could play Dracula alongside Catherine Zeta-Jones as a blood-sucking lesbian countess .
As Dr. Jeff is Johnny Depp … we’ll have a great movie .
All the best for you all ,
Tania
October 31st, 2009 at 6:48 am
This time of the year is the best time for us to have a heated conversation about the most ghost-hunted city . There is one here In Canada a city called ‘Winnipeg.”
Believe me or not, the city is a major tourist attraction at this time of the year . People swarm into that areas to experience some creepy events.
I heard ,though ,England is the hub of this kind of occurrences.
If you don’t have phasmophobia of any kinds is a fun activity at this time of the year.
But, if you are really planning on doing it just be careful not to be hunted by a POLTERGEIST, ohhh ,eerie ,isn’t it?
October 31st, 2009 at 7:04 am
Too pedontic sometimes,
I have the attention span of a one-year old. you should see my hand writing. It is a matching trait,totally child-like
October 31st, 2009 at 9:56 am
Tania, you have the quality of moving my curiosity, and after reading your post I have been reading Wik. about the feast.
Yes it´s from Celtic traditions the name and the custom of celebrating this feast of Halloween. In WIk. there are great information about the matter, and quite interesting indeed.
It seems that all were very old pagans feasts from Romans, Celts, or even anciant people as Persians, Egipts, and so forth. But the Christian Church was disappointed with them and make “their” feast at the same time that pagans.
Celts have nothing to do with the Christians and did their own feasts from a long time, till the point that this one Halloween is one that comes from them. Irish, Scotish, Galeics, and so forth.
In fact were heads of their enemies what were placed on the windows with a latern, waiting they could teach some of the wisdom about war or similar.
Also Celts want to celebrate the end of summer, as all the feast were relative to the Earth, The Sun, Spring, Moon, Harvest and so on. Afterward, in America, the heads were replaced by the pumpkins which are more civilized, also more english and christian, I think.
I know nearly nothing about all the meaning of this day represents to Celts and English traditions and you have picked my curiosity Tania.
Thanks a lot for that, you are a treasure here in the Blog.
October 31st, 2009 at 10:32 am
As an example of mithology and Christians:
(from WIKI too)
Knock on wood
Meaning:
The phrase used by people who rap their knuckles on a piece of wood hoping to stave off bad luck. In the UK the phrase ‘touch wood’ is used – often jokingly by tapping one’s head. The phrases are usually used when one is already experiencing some good fortune and hope that it will continue – e.g. “I’ve been winning on every race – touch wood”.
Origin;
knock on wood The derivation may be the association that wood and trees have with good spirits in mythology, or with the Christian cross. It used to be considered good luck to tap trees to let the wood spirits within know you were there. Traditions of this sort still persist in Ireland.
Now has been Cuca who told me about the phrase that lot of people use everwhere to avoid bad luck or bad fate.
Cuca thinks is from the Celts culture too that comes the phrase, as they use to touch the trees to be healthy and have good luck, and she is an
expert about history.
I would be houres writing here in touch with all my friends instead of touching my head….but now I want my tea. Sorry.
October 31st, 2009 at 11:17 am
Oh ! Nice compliment for me , Emiliano ! Thank you .
Peter , you frighten us with Poltergeist . I don’t like ghosts . I’m afraid of bad dreams .
Tania
October 31st, 2009 at 11:37 am
Hi ! It is night and dark … all kind of orange and black shadows … a Jack-o-lantern lighting … and a mysterious voice asking : “Trick or treat ?”
Don’t be afraid ! We are , all your students . We are waiting for a candy . But your lessons are our candies every day .
They are sweeter even than a candy .
All the best for you all with only harmless spirits ,
Tania
October 31st, 2009 at 1:36 pm
My dear friend Emiliano,
What piqué my curosity is , if you guys have some traditions like that
October 31st, 2009 at 5:20 pm
Now all young people and children have their Halloween too, but it is a new custom that comes from U.S.A. since several years really, as my
daughters began with it at the school when they were children.
But for me and the people of my generation Halloween is something very odd, in fact I didn´t know anything about this tradition when we were young or children, in fact the first time I saw it, Halloween, was in the film of E.T., and afterward it comes here as something peculiar and new……may be E.T. had something to do with it. Who knows?.
The tradition here was to go to the cementery and honor the relatives who were not more between us, and the families carry flowers to the
tombs and remember the parents, gran parents, or any other friend or familiy which has past away already.
I don´t like this tradition either, because it´s so sad to go and remember the deads. I prefer to remember them when they were alive and cheerful,
but I can understand perfectly well other kind of feelings, and sometimes I have to go to the cementery with some family.
The old traditions are going lost and new ones are coming, that´s life I think.
Catholic Church is lossing power here every year, litle by litle people don´t go to the religious feast and prefer to have other kind of celebrations.
In Cataluña, a region of Spain, their goverment wants to change the name of “Christmas” to the name of “Winter Feasts”, and change also “Holly Week to Spring Feast”.
What do you think Peter?.
I am not a very religious person but I don´t like these kind of changes, nothing at all.
Christmas is Christmas, and doesn´t matter if I am or not catholic, the same as Holly Week.
Now is also Halloween instead of the Day of All Saints, that was the feast before. but about this I don´t care.
Regards Peter.
November 2nd, 2009 at 12:12 pm
well, apparently in the third world -where I live- there is no need to pay for renting a pop-up store.
you can just use the street, It’s all yours!
But i like the whole idea, it can give my boring way to the home a fresh new look.
November 2nd, 2009 at 12:51 pm
I don’t know my friend Emiliano. I am not really into religious stuff. But ,I personally think we should do what it takes to preserve our past ,our history. Our customs and traditions are a part of our history. In fact, they are a inherent part of us .they form our identity ,ergo, Throwing them away is like throwing away our identity,and what really you are. It is like trying to be something you are not. Whatever you do my friend ,don’t ever let somebody make you over into something that you are not.No matter if it is exerted by a local government or imposed by foreigners.
I personally think the government should stop pushing it otherwise they would bring about identity crises and identity loss, particularly for the generations to come.
November 2nd, 2009 at 8:17 pm
It Is not limited to developing countries , even here in Canada soliciting and canvassing are par for the course
Sometimes you see people sell things on sidewalks. Even ,I could say home to home canvassing is a way of business here and The U.S., but I don’t rule it out.