Why Did Talbots Open a Grand Central Terminal Pop-Up Shop?

Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox. You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here.

Talbots just opened a kiosk in Grand Central Terminal in order to appeal to the people who used to be its biggest customers: Women in their 40s. If you're not a woman in her 40s, you might wonder what this has to do with you. But it's actually a pretty interesting move from Talbots, which is not exactly lacking in uptown stores. It's also a new move for Grand Central, which has never before rented a kiosk to an established national brand. So what's the deal?

According to Talbots CMO Lori Wagner, the Grand Central kiosk isn't meant to drive sales. What it's supposed to do is what any good pop-up shop does: Grab attention. Talbots has already hired Linda Evangelista as the face of the brand, and they're slowly started to renovate their existing stores, but it's easier to put a temporary shop in front of possible customers rather than try to lure said customers to their existing locations.

As such, the kiosk's merchandise focuses on smaller, more accessible items like jewelry, bags, and scarves, and the goal is to appeal to the women who flood through Grand Central on a daily basis. So far, the strategy appears to be a success: The very first sale was a bag that cost nearly $300, suggesting that people are indeed willing to spend if you just put desirable stuff in front of them. If the rest of the year goes well, we wouldn't be surprised to see other major brands start showing up in Grand Central after the pop-up pops back down in late December.
· Linda Evangelista for Talbots [Racked National]
· Grand Central Terminal [Official Site]