‘Tis the season for holiday pop-ups in NYC. From the ‘holiday shops’ in Bryant Park and Columbus Circle markets in midtown, to Google Hardware, Brooklinen and “I Found It At The Strategist” downtown (great store name), this is the time of year when temporary retail really shines. (There are some fantastic festive food and drink pop-ups in NYC right now too.) A lot of the demand is being driven by new, digitally native Direct-To-Consumer (DTC) brands wanting – or perhaps needing – to have a physical presence.
Amidst the Christmas pop-ups spread scattershot across the city, a new kind of aggregator opened this week, promising to curate a fresh retail experience for customers and a different retail model for brands. Called “Showfields”, it opened in a historic 1913 building on the corner of Bond and Lafayette Streets in NoHo (the “center of gravity” for DTC brands according to the founder) and is setting out with a lofty ambition – to be ‘”The Most Interesting Store In The World”.
At Showfields, the experience is the thing. Eventually, the store will span four levels – from innovative retail on the 1st Floor to a community loft space on the 4th Floor, with a changing parade of workshops and events to keep the building buzzing. Phase 1, which launched this week, is the street level, and is designed to be an Instagrammable mix of art gallery, café and retail discovery tour.