Some of you may know that back in the dot com heyday, I worked for a teen girl start-up called Kibu — it was the job that lured me to San Francisco where I've been living ever since. Kibu is probably best known for being one of the few start-ups to pull the plug and give unspent millions back to investors.

One of Kibu's more misguided ventures IMHO was a brick-and-mortar retail location opened in Ghirardelli Square – a scenic location for tourists but not really a teen destination. Even more troubling than the location (which was great to work in btw – just hopped on the trolley) was the reality that Kibu didn't really have anything to sell. We offered consultations with the site's personalities (writer/hosts we called "Faces") on hair, fashion or college apps and gave away a lot of free lip gloss. Now if Kibu's execs were hip to the pop-up store concept, this could have been much more effective (and saved them from signing a very expensive lease).

I was reminded of this reading about Teen Vogue's pop-up store in a New Jersey mall – perfect location to keep the brand top-of-mind (even if "only a small percentage of its overall readership lives near enough to visit the store"). Just as Kibu's "Studio," even if it was a pop-up store, probably couldn't have saved the dot com right after the April 2000 crash, I'm not sure that this effort will save one of the handful of remaining teen magazines from following the same fate as YM, Teen People, Elle Girl, or Cosmo Girl. But I could be wrong. From the New York Times:

The Haute Spot is a so-called pop-up concept, meaning that the store is not permanent. The location will be open Nov. 28 through Dec. 26.

Teen Vogue, part of Condé Nast Publications, will also open two stores in March and April to promote prom wear (the locations are not set, but they will be in malls on the East and West Coasts). And in August, it will open two locations featuring back-to-school gear.

The stores will offer free snacks, informal modeling, a perfume bar, a makeup station, charging stations for cellphones and iPods, a gift-wrapping counter and racks of clothes.

Stylists and attendants at the store will advise visitors on lipstick, shoes and outfits.

And, to the delight of retailers, they will whisk visitors to stores in the mall where they can buy the products.

Categorized under: Magazines, Youth Marketing

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