The holiday season is replete with holly, garland, sales…and pop-ups, especially in high-traffic tourist destinations like New York City. This year, two takes on the holiday pop-up, from Amazon and Primark, present an interesting study of the model’s variability and utility.
The two companies took markedly different approaches to their pop-up experiences, although neither activation supported on-site sales. Online-only Amazon highlighted its Holiday Shop offerings in a richly decorated, three-story, three-day pop-up adjacent to tourist hotspot Bryant Park., Primark has opened a small “Studio” space in the NYU-dominated NoHo neighborhood that will remain open through the holidays and beyond, aimed at building buzz for the Spring 2026 opening of its Herald Square flagship.
Two very different companies (not least because one dominates U.S. ecommerce and the other has no ecommerce at all) with two very different goals, and yet they both turned to non-transactional pop-ups to achieve their aims. Here’s how these varying expressions of the pop-up model played out.
Amazon Brings its Holiday Shop to Life
Amazon’s first-ever “Home for the Holidays Social Content Studio” was staged from Nov 10-14 at GH on the Park, an event space that at one point in time, long ago, was a stately home overlooking Bryant Park. For the event, Amazon transformed the three stories of the space back into a home, albeit with a modern bent.
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Fully decorated themed rooms included a kitchen and walk-in pantry, dining room, “boudoir” lounge area, playroom, theater, home office and gym. Each area was stuffed to the brim with products from Amazon’s Holiday Shop, with QR codes placed throughout to “shop” the products on display.
However, the goal of the event wasn’t sales. Rather, it was a chance for Amazon to break out from the expansive yet restrictive walls of the internet. The pop-up goal was to bring Amazon’s online assortment to life for media and influencers, all busily preparing their holiday hot lists and seasonal shopping recommendations. The idea was to create an immersive experience (which it certainly was) that not only allowed for product trials but also created opportunities for content creation and “photo moments.”
Amazon also took the opportunity to highlight its climate-friendly product offerings with a dedicated sustainability section that featured products from its Climate Pledge Friendly program and Amazon Resale, including a curated Climate Pledge Fashion Edit available on Amazon-owned Shopbop.
Primark Builds Buzz for Herald Square Store
Downtown, Primark hosted its own very different pop-up, the Primark Studio, at 55 Great Jones Street in NoHo. The location itself speaks to Primark’s target customer, nestled as it is in NYU’s home turf.
Primark Studio also isn’t focused on sales; customers who stop by won’t be able to buy anything unless they travel to one of Primark’s other stores in the region. But, on opening weekend they were able to get up close and personal with the Primark brand, and that was the point. Customers were invited to partake in a full café bar, take photos at a number of purpose-made stations, explore the brand’s holiday product lineup and get a free color analysis.
Retail TouchPoints visited during a media preview in advance of the space opening to the public, but even then, curious passersby attempted to join in the fun at regular intervals. And reports from the public opening this past weekend tell of around-the-block lines and general excitement.
For now, customers who want to buy anything they saw at the pop-up will have to visit the closest store, since Primark doesn’t have a transactional ecommerce site. None of those stores are in Manhattan, but after traveling to Queens Center or American Dream Mall in New Jersey, there’s no doubt that those shoppers will be eager to check out the brand’s Herald Square flagship when it opens in the heart of Manhattan next spring — and that also is the point.
The Primark Studio pop-up will remain open until the Herald Square location makes its debut, with a revolving series of activations and events, Primark’s U.S. marketing head Rene Federico told Retail TouchPoints, giving fans plenty of reasons to continue to stop by over the coming months.
Here all about Primark’s U.S. growth strategy in this episode of the Retail Remix podcast with the company’s U.S. President Kevin Tulip:
