The Pop-Up Club: Revolutionising Retail

The Pop-Up Club showcases people’s crafts and creations to real-life customers. Designed to remove the impersonal nature of technology, The Pop-Up Club has encouraged human interaction and connection, working with over 300 small businesses since 2017. Their mission is simple; to provide artists, makers, designers and small businesses that have sustainability at their core, with affordable pop-up spaces in high footfall locations.

Modern Retail had the pleasure of speaking with Tillie Peel, Founder of The Pop-Up Club about the ways that this community benefits small businesses and independent retailers, as well as how they can get involved.

Here’s what Tillie had to say:

1. How did The Pop-Up Club begin and how has it evolved since?

The Pop-Up Club began after I had my own market stall selling vintage clothes, and I could see that there was an opportunity for something bigger.

I ended up working with my local council to see if we could have a pop-up market that would give other traders and small businesses the chance to sell their products, and it grew from there.

Last year was the biggest year for us, and we generated £500,000 for the small and independent businesses we work with. Not only that but we had the most amount of locations we’ve ever had, including Westfield Stratford City, Westfield White City, Bluewater Shopping Centre in Kent, King Street in Manchester, Dukes Lane in Brighton as well as our Seven Dials residence in London and Bond Street in Chelmsford.

2. Tell us more about how you’ve helped to generate so much money for small businesses and independent retailers.

There is no magic trick or secret here, except hard work and finding great locations that make shoppers stop outside and come in to see us!

We also focus on working with the right small businesses and traders who really benefit from being in our pop-ups, and we know they hugely value meeting their customers in-person to build that relationship.

We’ve also focused on great locations with strong footfall, where we have hugely benefited from. Building relationships with our landlords has also been key and allowed us to be a part of iconic shopping destinations including Manchester’s King Street, Kent’s Bluewater Shopping Centre and both of London’s Westfield shopping centres.

3. What have been your highlights since launching?

Definitely when traders email with stories about how many sales they’ve had from being involved with us, or even just to tell us about meeting a customer who loves them. It’s the little moments like this that make it worth it.

Also looking back over 2021, there were some huge highlights for us such as landing locations in huge shopping centres like Bluewater Shopping Centre in Kent and Westfield in London. When we take a step back and look at how much we achieved in the last year, including generating half a million for our traders, it’s incredible.

4. How can retailers get involved with The Pop-Up Club?

If an independent or a small business is interested in being at one of our pop-ups, whether it’s a store or a market, then we are always happy to hear from them. They can register their interest via our website, and we will always make note of businesses in case there’s an opportunity to work together in future.

Or they can also watch our social accounts as we typically will put a call out for traders when we have secured a new location.

5. What’s next for The Pop-Up Club and how can our readers stay up to date?

We are still confirming our locations for 2022, and we’d love to go back to high footfall locations like Westfields and Bluewater, especially as we had such a positive reaction from shoppers in places like there.

To keep up to date with where we’ll be, you can sign up to our website for our newsletter or keep your eyes peeled via our social media as we will announce our calendar there.

Click here to register your interest with The Pop-Up Club.