Highlights. Temporary retail spaces (including pop-up shops) make $80 billion a year; projections indicate that market value will exceed $95 billion in 2026.
- Traditional retailers made a total of $10 billion in a year of hosting pop-up events.
- U.S. temporary retail and pop-up revenue totaled $15.6 billion in 2025.
- 42,500 U.S. businesses had a temporary retail space in 2025.
- 44% of pop-up shops cost less than $5,000 to open.
- Studies indicate that a pop-up event can boost sales revenue by 35%.
Pop-up Retail Financial Statistics
With no centralized database, it is difficult to estimate total direct revenue from pop-up shops, let alone how much indirect revenue a pop-up shop can drive.
- Total temporary retail revenue ($80 billion) includes independent sales, such as yard sales and rummage sales, as well as food trucks.
- Revenue from traditional retailer pop-ups represents 20% of temporary retail sales; flea markets represent the largest sales share (60%).
- 17% of pop-ups cost $5,000 to $10,000, and 20% cost $10,000 to $25,000.
- 19% of pop-ups cost more than $25,000.
Pop-up Retail Store Statistics
Marketing and event agencies are most likely to use pop-up shops, and shops rarely remain open for more than three (3) months.
- An average pop-up shop is active for 3-14 days.
- 80% of retailers that have opened a pop-up shop considered it a success.
- 58% of retailers who have had a successful pop-up plan to host another.
- 66% of retailers open a pop-up shop with goals that include raising brand awareness.
- 63% of retailers open a pop-up with the goal to improve customer connection and 46% open a pop-up to introduce a new product.
- 38.5% of retailers that have opened a pop-up have done so once.
- 39.1% of retailers that have opened a pop-up have done so two or three times.
- Among businesses that have opened a pop-up, just 22.4% have opened four (4) or more.
- 40% of pop-up shops belong to brick-and-mortar stores.
- 32% of pop-ups are from e-commerce businesses.
- 28% of pop-up shops are the work of businesses with a mix of brick-and-mortar locations and e-commerce revenue.
Pop-up Retail Space Statistics
Pop-ups are a relatively new source of revenue for retail property owners with unused space.
- Monthly rent for an average retail space is $25.93 per square foot.
- Mall space rents at a monthly rate of $34.39 per square foot.
- The average retail vacancy rate is 2.6%; malls have the largest average total vacancy rate (8.7%) among retail spaces.
- Net retail absorption or net utilized retail space (versus unused space) in 2025 is 4.36 million square feet.
- Total retail space in the United States is equivalent to 12.197 billion square feet, 280,002 acres, or 437.5 square miles.
- On average, it takes 10 to 15 months to lease an empty retail space to a new tenant.
These data and insights were compiled by the Capital One Shopping team based on publicly available data.
Sources
- Jones Lang LaSalle IP, Inc., United States Retail Outlook
- Salem State University Enterprise Center, The Nature of Pop Up Stores and Their Benefits
- StoreFront, Why Choose Short-Term Retail?
- New York Business Journal, How Pop-up Retail Exploded into a $50B Business
- Statista, Industry Overview
- IBIS World, Industry Trends
- Forbes, Pop-Up Retailers