Interactive spaces have grown increasingly popular, whether in modern art installations or retail experiences. Especially for young, fledgling companies, establishing an immersive pop-up shop can be a powerful means to accelerate growth. The temporary stores serve as a sort of test run, enabling retailers to explore consumers’ appetite for their offerings, before committing the time and resources required to establish a permanent location.

By making the pop-up shops not just temporary but also immersive, retailers can build a remarkable sense of urgency and excitement too, particularly among consumers whose fear of missing out on the experience drives them to the on-site locations. Accordingly, retail brands that feature an innately experiential offering, like beauty and cosmetics sellers, can and do benefit substantially from immersive pop-up stores.

Glossier captivated millennial consumers’ attention and built cult-like devotion among them, partly by installing pop-ups, a strategy that it maintains even today, as a well-known brand. For example, the Balm DotWorld kiosk installed in the Mall of America allowed shoppers to celebrate the launch of a Black Cherry shade, as the latest iteration of its popular lip balm Balm Dotcom.

A kiosk in a mall might be experiential in a sense, but for the skincare brand Rhode, the goal was true immersion. It took over an existing beach club, called Gran Folies, in Mallorca, Spain, for a two-week period. During this immersion, the club was rebranded as the Rhode Summer Club, promising visitors that they could enjoy the very first access to its new Lemontini lip tint shade. While testing out the lip tint, consumers also could lounge on chaises covered with the brand name, under Rhode-labeled umbrellas. Or they might float on Rhode-branded pool floats, then dry themselves with Rhode beach towels. Ice cream carts offered specialty Rhode products too.

Such a brand experience is far more than just a brand experience. It provided consumers and fans of the brand (and perhaps its founder, Hailey Bieber) an opportunity to create sun-soaked, vacation-tinted memories, which could be re-evoked and recalled each time they applied a bit of lip tint. For everyday fans who could not quite swing a trip to Mallorca, social media and promotional accounts of the events at the club highlighted the joy of the experience and a sense of longing to be part of the fun in some way, even if just by purchasing the same products.

But immersion is not solely a promise of beauty brands. Luxury fashion houses have embraced the trend too, often in the form of immersive dining concepts. From Louis Vuitton to Dior, Armani to Ralph Lauren, fashion houses use dining outposts as a way to extend their identity. Instead of simply offering fine luxury goods, they can sell an entire way of life. Thus when Coach opened a restaurant in Jakarta, Indonesia, seeking to establish its brand identity in this wealthy Asian market, it designed the space to be reminiscent of a quintessential New York steakhouse. The restaurant’s dramatic decorative elements even include a yellow taxicab hung from the ceiling. Then its nearby Coach Coffee Shop operates as a sister restaurant, offering warm beverages and fancy baked goods.

Such experiential, immersive locations serve several functions. They raise excitement and FOMO; they expand the brand’s image and identity to new regions and different offerings; and in some cases, they provide a more accessible introduction to the brands. Even cost-conscious consumers might enjoy a café au lait and scone in a Coach store, and young shoppers might be likely to splurge on a Rhode lip tint, for a sense of the experience promised by these brands.

Discussion Questions

1. What benefits and drawbacks do pop-up shops offer retailers?
2. Why might Coach open a restaurant in Indonesia and Rhode launch its latest product in Spain? Were these decisions made for different reasons?

Sources: Clara Ludmir, “How Brands Are Expanding Beyond Stores to Deliver Immersive Retail,” Forbes, March 10, 2025; Irene Dong, “Coach Opens First Cafe and Fine-Dining Experience in Indonesia,” Inside Retail Asia, March 4, 2024; “Rhode Opens Beach Club Pop-Up in Majorca,” Global Cosmetics News, July 10, 2025.