PopUp Piccadilly launches to support British retail start-ups

PopUp Piccadilly is a strand of PopUp Britain, a scheme initiated by national enterprise campaign StartUp Britain.

Iris created the overall branding for PopUp Britain, which is adapted for each venue to take part in the scheme, and shown on touch points such as internal and external signage.

Previous PopUp Britain venues have included Camberley, in Surrey; London’s King’s Road and Somerset House, Gloucestershire’s Moreton-in-Marsh and Chard.

The Piccadilly scheme is supported by Intuit UK, Vistaprint, and the Crown Estate, which owns the space at 213 Piccadilly, and sees 60 British retailers given a space for a six-week period.

Ten businesses will be in place for a weeklong period at a time, with the first ten all selected as businesses that manufacture their products in the UK.

Two John Lewis in-house visual merchandisers have worked on the design of the space, and John Lewis has also provided furniture for the Piccadilly site.

PopUp Piccadilly retailers include fashion brand Blonde + Ginger, English bone-china designer Sara Smith, Edinburgh-based biscuit company Shortbread House and dog accessories start-up Bone & Rag.

StartUp Britain co-founder Emma Jones says, ‘We want to put British start-ups on the map and this store in Piccadilly will be a showcase of the passion and creativity that’s out there in this country.

‘These small businesses represent the future of British retail and have a role to play in reviving the British economy’.