PYMNTS-MonitorEdge-May-2024

Kanye West Pop-Up Stores Were Here — And Now They’re Gone

Kanye West opened a series of three-day-only pop-up stores across the globe on Friday

Taylor Swift might not want to hear this, but now, Kanye West is — almost literally — everywhere.

The rapper/designer/self-proclaimed “greatest artist ever” launched 21 three-day-only pop-up stores across the globe on Friday (Aug. 19) selling merchandise from his latest album, “The Life of Pablo,” according to CNNMoney.

The apparel available for purchase at these Kanye pop-up stores included t-shirts, hoodies, denim jackets and other Kanye-styled items emblazoned with the name of the city where the temporary stores were located or something having to do with the word “Pablo.” Kanye’s clothes typically carry writings done in Gothic font by the artist Cali Thornhill.

The stores opened in locations as far-flung as Singapore, Amsterdam, Melbourne, Atlanta, Chicago and Las Vegas. The exact location of each store was on KanyeWest.com, and each store was only open for three days, according to Vogue.

Although celebrities dabbling in fashion and pop-up stores is becoming the vogue, West was actually an early adopter of the trend. In 2013, during his Yeezus tour, he opened a pop-up location on the Bowery that led to packed lines and many of the Kanye-styled apparel items selling out in hours.

At the Melbourne Kanye pop-up store, the line stretched around the block, with hundreds of people waiting hours just to get inside, according to CNNMoney.

At the Sydney store, only three customers were allowed inside the store at one time, patrons were not actually allowed to touch the merchandise and there was a limit on the number of items each customer could purchase.

More than 50 people slept outside the Sydney location overnight in order to gain early access to the Kanye pop-up, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.

West’s pop-up store on Wooster Street in New York City that opened in March reportedly brought in $1 million in sales in a three-day period.

PYMNTS-MonitorEdge-May-2024