Small retailers can now lease space in Walmart (Bentonville, Ark.) stores across the U.S. on a temporary basis, thanks to a partnership between the retailing giant and Popable (Houston), a pop-up shop marketplace platform.
“We are excited to partner with Walmart to bring new brands to local communities while providing small-business owners the ability to thrive with some great built-in foot traffic,” Scott Blair, Co-Founder and CEO of Popable said in a news release. “For retailers emerging from a challenging year in the face of post-Covid impacts ranging from rising economic concerns to delivery issues at the ports, pop-up retail could be a great way to move excess inventory.”
In addition, participating brands and spaces can list on Popable’s website. Small businesses can then be paired with their local participating Walmart to connect and enter into a temporary leasing agreement.
The leasing agreements will be predetermined by the small business and can range in time from a month up to a year, but could grow to a longer-term agreement. (The announcement from Popable does not spell out the maximum square footage a small retailer can lease.)
“We are proud to work with Popable to offer local brands an opportunity to grow inside our stores,” said Darryl Spinks, Senior Director of Retail Services for Walmart, which has about 3500 Supercenter stores across the U.S. “This is a great example of our focus on offering services unique to the neighborhoods we serve through our ‘store of the community’ initiative.”