The Limited’s SoHo pop-up shop, doing brisk business, will stick around through the holidays.

More than just a limited engagement, trendy apparel retailer The Limited is extending its four-day pop-up shop in SoHo through the end of December, the company said Thursday.

Last week, Limited opened a temporary, store at 134 Spring St., between Wooster and Greene streets, after a decade-long absence from the New York market. But executives of the Columbus, Ohio-based firm were “pleasantly surprised, as it performed at the same level as one of their top-tier stores,” according to a spokeswoman. Sales, which were not disclosed, were high enough to persuade the company to extend the 3,400-square-foot shop through Dec. 28. It’s a sign, retail brokers say, that the retailer might be closer to taking a permanent location here.

“With all the availabilities and low rents and obvious short-term opportunities, companies are starting to realize the benefit of locking in low rents for long-term leases,” said Peter Levitan, a broker at Sierra Realty, which handles a lot of business in the downtown area. Asking rents on Spring Street have fallen about 25% since the peak of the market two years ago to near $300 a square foot, but are still not as low as the near $160-per-square-foot rents tenants can find on the less-trafficked West Broadway, brokers say.

These days, landlords are willing to accept short-term tenants like Limited, with the hopes of finding a longer lasting relationship around the corner.

“The structure of some deals now is temporary with the right to make it permanent,” said Jason Pruger of Newmark Knight Frank Retail. “It gives the tenant the opportunity to see if the marketplace works for them, while the landlord can collect rent and potentially have something in the long-term.”

A Limited spokeswoman said that the company loves the energy and fashion relevance of SoHo but “would consider multiple neighborhoods before making a final decision” about a potential Manhattan location. In SoHo, the retailer would join tenants offering a wide variety of price ranges, from John Varvatos’s luxury to American Apparel’s basics.

“The Limited has an ideal price point for today’s price-conscious shopper,” said Mr. Levitan, adding that the trial period will help the company determine if SoHo is the right choice.

After its heyday in the ’80s, when sales volume reportedly totaled more than $1 billion, Limited’s popularity has suffered. The chain now does near $400 million in annual sales. Limited Brands Inc., which owns such chains as Express, Bath & Body Works and Victoria’s Secret, sold a controlling stake of its namesake Limited brand to affiliates of Sun Capital Partners Inc. two years ago.

Under new ownership, Limited is seeking to revamp its image. It hopes to eventually expand its store count, with most new stores coming in at about 4,000 square feet instead of the usual 7,000 square feet. The Spring Street pop-up includes re-launched labels Forenza and Outback Red.

Example: if you’re Jaguar, and your (expensive) story is about old money with a dollop of English eccentricity and the whole world is aware of this, then consumers craving recognition from anyone impressed with this kind of lifestyle only need to buy one of your cars to bask in the glow of their peers’ admiration. Much of the current market research completed today is based on this idea of the brand story. For instance, Country Squires tend to drive Jaguars because they are status symbols and gain them access to the social club. However, while well-known, storied and very visible STATUS SYMBOLS will continue to dominate consumer societies for years to come, they will face increasing competition from STATUS STORIES: As more brands go niche and therefore tell stories that aren’t known to the masses, and as experiences and non-consumption-related expenditures take over from physical status symbols, consumers will increasingly have to tell each other stories to achieve a status dividend from their purchases. Expect a shift from brands telling a story, to brands helping consumers tell status-yielding stories to other consumers.

These types of experience are rapidly increasing as guerrilla and mobile retail are gaining popularity. For instance, major newspapers have recently caught onto Kogi Korean BBQ which sells their tacos out of trucks in LA. Fans get location updates via Twitter & usually 100s of followers are waiting when the trucks pull up. Another example is the ever-growing in popularity Treat Truck in New York.


Status Stories: Why Now?
STATUS STORIES are an answer to some of the major shifts and trends taking place in the consumption arena, from uniqueness, to visibility, to ‘alternative status sources’:
No longer do consumers want to be like the Joneses, the Mullers or the Li’s. When individuality rules and conformity is frowned upon, owning something no one else has is hot. The ‘mass’ that consumers are willing to put up with is either the stuff they don’t really care about—and can get on the cheap at the Wal-Marts and Aldis of this world—and some remaining objects of mass desire like the iPhone or the Mini Cooper. However, even these are likely to be customized and personalized the moment they leave the warehouse, website or store.
This consumption trend accounts is pushing the hand-made, artisanal and local markets. Many designers are custom making fashion piece or designing limited edition items. These one-of-a-kind items are often the most have pieces of the season and consumers are willing to dish out the cash for the luxury of having one.

The shift from mass to unique explains the surge in niche or even one-of-a-kind products and services. So brands will increasingly not want to, or will not be able (if only for financial reasons) to tell their story to the masses. Which in turn means that consumers buying from these brands will no longer be able to rely on the product or service to provide them with that instant recognition and admiration from their peers. It is thus up to the customer to tell a story, any kind of story, with the brand providing the ingredients.
Besides the shift from mass to uniqueness, mature/prosperous consumers now predominantly live in experience economies. Experiences not only are inherently more unique, they also do a better job of providing instant gratification: they’re often more affordable, and thus more numerous than old-world status symbols.