Walmart partners to open holiday pop-ups for small business retailers

Some Walmart stores will be offering shoppers a new option this holiday season.

The retail giant is partnering with Popable, a pop-up shop marketplace platform that connects brands and physical spaces for short-term retail leasing. Under the terms of the deal, small businesses will be able to rent retail space in designated Walmart stores across the country for short-term leasing, without being committed to a long-term lease.

Brands and spaces can both list on Popable's online website. Small businesses can then be paired with their local participating Walmart to connect and enter into an agreeable temporary leasing agreement. The timeframe of the leases will be predetermined by the small business and can range in time from a month up to a year, but could also grow to a longer-term agreement. (The terms are decided and negotiated by the brands and spaces directly themselves.)

“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. "This is a great example of our focus on offering services unique to the neighborhoods we serve through our store of the community initiative."

Due to the pandemic, many small businesses across the nation severely suffered to the point where they had to close shop, noted Scott Blair, co-founder and CEO of Popable.

“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," he said. "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."