When Alana Branston and Ali Kriegsman wanted a short-term location to test Bulletin, a retail format that provides shop space for entrepreneurs, they set their sights high, first in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, then Manhattan’s Nolita neighborhood and now the Flatiron District. Just a few years ago, landlords likely would have turned away this young retail business in favor of a tenant willing to hunker down for a decade or longer. But...
Pop-up stores on short leases are becoming more widespread in New York, with 20% of retail leases granted in the third quarter being for the same period the previous year or less, compared with under 5% over three years. "There is a space between the old retail model and the new model, and in that space people are trying to figure out what they are doing," said Robin Zendell, the CEO of property services business Robin Zendell & Associates. Shorter leases are appealing to landlords as well as they mean properties remain occupied between longer-term tenants.