Dive Brief:
-
Macy’s-owned upscale department store Bloomingdale’s is joining the pop-up festival craze, opening 150-square-foot women's pop-up shops at its 59th Street flagship in Manhattan as well as locations like Beverly Hills, San Francisco and Santa Monica.
-
The Bloomingdale's pop-ups feature summer music festival-themed fashion from brands like Parker, Chaser, Mara Hoffman, Sunset + Spring, Sol Angeles, Toms, Herschel, BB Dakota and Jet Set Diaries.The department store also is partnering with DJ Hannah Bronfman, who has curated a Spotify playlist and who will appear April 7 at the pop-up in the 59th Street store.
-
Pop-ups—temporary retail outposts in stores or in temporary commercial spaces or even trucks—are an effective way for retailers to reach shoppers attending major events like music festivals (for example, Coachella and South by Southwest) and sporting events, with products geared to those shoppers. Bloomingdale's, however, is limiting its festival-themed pop-ups to its own brick-and-mortar stores.
Dive Insight:
Bloomingdale’s apparently couldn’t resist the festival pop-up trend, but it’s not going as far as Nordstrom, H&M, Revolve and others that are hitting the festivals themselves with pop-up stores and events.
The music festival season in general is increasingly shaping summer fashion trends. Retailers with the desired goods are savvy to tether themselves to a highly influential, sold-out mega-event like Coachella, taking place in Indio, CA between April 15 and April 24.
But it’s not just about having the goods, it’s also about making it easy for festival-goers to shop for them. Coachella’s capacity for each weekend reaches 99,000 people, and this year it’s already sold out. A gathering of that magnitude is a natural spot for a pop-up store with omnichannel capabilities.
Last month, Nordstrom began touring festivals with a group of three “pod” pop-up shops that offer beauty products, totes, cell phone charging stations and a photo booth. Launched at South by Southwest in Austin, TX, the pods are part of Nordstrom's “See Anew” campaign, and will continue on to the Beale Street Music Festival in Memphis, Shaky Knees in Atlanta, and BottleRock in Napa.
