“I swear it was right here last week!” you dumbfoundedly confess to your friend who you dragged all the way across the city to show her “the cutest little store ever.”  Don’t worry, you’re PROBABLY not crazy.  You most likely just happened to stumble across a pop-up store. These temporary storefronts are quickly growing in number as their success has been substantial.  A “pop-up” is, as the name would suggest, a store location that appears for a specific number of days or months and then, poof, is gone. We first started seeing these back around 2003 when Song airlines opened “Song in the City” in Soho to sell travel gear, samples of their in-flight menu, and even plane tickets for just a month. Target, Nike, Y3 and others have followed in their footsteps. But recently these stores seem to be popping up left and right. During the last week of August, Jack White opened Third Man Records and Novelties downtown LA for just 3 days. In this pop-up record store he sold many music rarities and novelties, including a trip to Tennessee hidden inside one of his new records. Probably the most advertised recent pop-up is Gap’s 1969 store on Robertson Blvd. From August 10th until September 27th this store will showcase Gap’s new line of premium jeans.

While others are just starting to experiment with this new retail concept, apartment number 9 has perfected it. For a good period of time, they have steadily been rotating fashion brands as they introduce a new designer installation every couple of months. Past designers they’ve featured have included Trovata, Loomstate and Rogan. On September 10^th they will be unveiling yet another brand, Jack Spade, in their Beverly Hills store. Quite possibly the most intriguing part of this store is that they’ve partnered with Phyllis Diller and Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co.   So in addition to the Jack Spade apparel they will be carrying comedy albums and specialty Halloween costumes. This store will be open until October 31.