How-To Guides

Paris regulates retail at street level, not city level, so the same activation can be simple on one road and complicated two streets away. What the French and Paris authorities actually publish on short-term leases, pavement permits, retail protection, safety and access, and Sunday trading, with the six questions worth taking to a landlord.

The parts of running a pop-up that are different in Paris: employing staff without a French entity, what language the floor works in, tax-inclusive price labels, and why Sunday is settled address by address.

Which permits and licenses a New York pop-up shop actually needs, which agency issues each one, how long they take, and when they do not apply to you at all.

What a New York landlord will ask for before handing over keys, what the state requires once you put staff on a shift, and the order to sort it in.

The three things that are different when you open a New York pop-up from outside the US: getting stock in and legally sellable, getting paid, and putting staff on the floor.

The patterns behind New York pop-ups that work: choosing the week against the city calendar, a format New York already understands, and the block rather than the district.

What short-term retail space actually costs in New York, why it is priced by the day rather than per square foot, and the costs that are not the rent.