Now you see ‘em, now you don’t — the franchises that ply their trades for only part of the year hoping to eke out inroads into other locales. They’re the so-called pop-up businesses, whose stated intention is to appeal mostly to seasonal interests (Halloween costumes and gear, Fourth of July flags and clothes, Easter bunnies and chocolate peeps) before closing up shop and moving to another destination in the interest of the target cities’ economic development.
It’s actually been going on since 1999, when an L.A. retail chain called Vacant sold a limited number of niche items and opened and closed several times in the process. That means Los Angeles has brought some pop-up experience to bear — in fact, one L.A. franchise is setting up shop in La Jolla, driven by the pay-it-forward climate the spirit of the season represents.
TOMS is joining the neighborhood with its first pop-up “Give Shop,” which opened on Oct. 14 at 7802 Girard Ave. Shoes, optical frames, sunglasses and coffee are TOMS’ stock in trade, but charity is the motive behind each sale. Partial proceeds go to child welfare, compromised-vision programs and improvements in water-quality systems, in exchange for which customers receive credit for goods and services. They can also learn how to get involved through local volunteer opportunities, and they’ll find an interactive “How I Give” chalk wall on which they can chart the ways they intend to give back.
TOMS cites Nordstrom and Wounded Warriors among its business partners. “This idea about La Jolla goes back quite a few months,” TOMS’ director of alternative retail Eshelman said, “when I was thinking where can we extend our store reach to a community that represents progressive thinkers, students and that target customer that buys a product with a purpose. We found quite a bit of support in La Jolla. La Jolla just reaches to downtown as well as North County. There’s a proximity to UCSD also, so I think this is going to resonate.
“We could have found a very commercial part of San Diego to locate in, but that’s not the way TOMS wants to be presented.”
The concept behind TOMS is easy to grasp, but it stems from an idea formulated on decidedly foreign soil. In 2006, American Blake Mycoskie befriended some children in a village in Argentina, discovering that they had no shoes. He founded TOMS almost on the spot and called his concept One on One, declaring that his fledgling firm would match every pair of shoes purchased with a pair of new shoes to be given to a child in need.
Realizing that One for One could serve other global needs, Mycoskie launched TOMS Eyewear in 2011 to help restore sight to persons in need with every purchase of sunglasses and optical frames. Three years later, TOMS Roasting Co. launched, with the mission to provide clean water to developing communities with the purchase of premium coffee.
“We have a reason for poppping up,” Eshelman said. “We’re testing if we can make viable a unique social currency here. There’s always a reason for a Halloween store popping up, sure, and there’s a reason for the Christmas tree lot coming to town for a month. But we have a reason for coming to the community. We want to drive home our commitment to giving as well as engage people in a new, fresh way.” TOMS will host a variety of events through the holiday season, including craft nights, movie screenings, panels with TOMS marketplace designers and “instameets” with local charitable organizations.
TOMS Give Shop will be open daily from 10 a.m to 7 p.m. until closing on Jan. 6, 2015.
For more information, please contact Emily Tschirhart, the store’s public relations manager,?at (424) 289-3634 or at [email protected].