Pop up store to become permanent?

CurbedSeattle, a website focused on "all-things design, decor, and shelter," reported last week that Madison Park's latest pop-up store was about to become a permanent fixture on the local retail scene. According to Curbed, the Guesthouse Pop-Up Shop, 4110 E. Madison St. (located in the space between the Bank of America branch and the Ewing & Clark office), is about to become the principal location for Guesthouse, a Madrona interior designer and home furnishings retailer.

The Madison Park location has been in operation for a couple of months and, according to Curbed, owner Kate Sehulster is happy with the results and ready to make the move to Madison Park, meanwhile retaining her existing Madrona space. Pop-up stores are temporary retail operations, typically set up in vacant retail spaces to test the market though the use of a short-term lease. Sometimes the retailer finds market acceptance and decides to make the lease permanent.

In this case, however, Sehulster tells us that Curbed is premature in its reporting, since no long-term lease has yet been signed with the building owner.  She confirms, however, that the Guesthouse store is successful in Madison Park and she is seriously looking at making the move permanent.

Since its opening in the fall of 2010, Guesthouse has offered an eclectic mix of interior furnishings, art, textiles, and interior-design services. Guesthouse's Madison Park incarnation fills the space recently occupied by two other pop-up operations, one an antique store and the other an art gallery.  Perhaps Guesthouse will make the pop-up a thing of the past, at least for this particular retail space.