Quadrant2Design brings Prestige PopShop to market

Prestige ‘PopShop’ has been announced as the world’s first creative and cost-effective system for temporary retail events.

Before the financial crisis hit Britain, 1 in 20 High Street shops were empty – nowadays it’s closer to 1 in 6. Further empty space is on its way according to Poole-based business Quadrant2Design. It believes that “increasing competition from online retailers and rising business rates means this trend is likely to accelerate, to the disadvantage of high-street retailers.Business owners are deciding against new start-ups and retail chains are reluctant to sign new leases. This has left landlords under financial pressure to consider more ‘off the wall’ methods of filling their vacant retail space.”

Out of this business cycle has come the pop up shop, an exciting alternative to the increasingly risky long-term investment of a permanent shop. Pop up shops are a relevant tool for brands of all sizes. By negotiating short-and-no-term leases, pop up shops are low-risk and bring vitality and imagination to traditional retail strategies.

Until recently most pop up shop designs have been down-to-earth, improvised and a sometimes amateurish. However, when big brands like BMW and Ebay investing in the format, pop up shops faced a new imperative to be creative and provide ROI.

Quadrant2Design, an exhibition stand contractor based in Poole, Dorset, has developed a ready-made solution to support this trend. It’s called The Prestige Events System, and Quadrant2Design have adapted it to create the world’s first bespoke Pop up Shop System.

Prestige is a Swiss-designed modular solution, widely used throughout Europe for creating exhibition stands, conference sets, retail displays and displays for all types of corporate events. The new PopShop is constructed from lightweight, but extremely strong, aluminium popup frames. The structural advantage of Prestige is two-fold: firstly, it is easy and quick to build. Secondly, Prestige stands have no need for special tools or knowledge, meaning that they can be built by anyone, at no extra cost. All Prestige graphics are panoramic, magnetising to the erected framework in seconds. The result of this is a strong brand on any PopShop. Other features include the option to integrate brightly lit product showcases and ‘floating-effect’ digital screens.

By combining these features Prestige PopShop stands have the ability to create engaging retail spaces, in a temporary setting, but with a ‘permanent’, professional look. The PopShop solution allows users to cover unsightly shop walling with stunning graphics, branding, showcases and digital screens. The team behind it estimates that a retail space with 80 to 100 metres of linear walling could be transformed into a viable retail space within one day, indicating massive savings in both onsite labour and logistics.

Quadrant2Design, who hold exclusive rights to the Prestige Events System in the UK, also pre-build every stand before it is released to the client, free of charge. This is a fail-safe quality control process that guarantees the exact stand a client wants.