Donald Trump is a seller. After his career in real estate, he is now taking the next step by opening his own Trump Retail store today – as a pop-up.
The address could hardly be more famous: 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington D.C., USA. Admittedly, the White House is not known as a classic high street spot for commercial retail. But Mr. Trump has often enough proved he has a feeling for locations with potential. His next brand growth project, the Trump Retail concept as a pop-up format, partly reinvents former shopping rules:
No shop windows, no footfall through the building for some protective reason, therefore no conversion at the no tills inside. The receipts for the sold products in Trump Retail will be presented to customers in a more diverse, sophisticated and sustainable way.
The Trump Retail pop-up store (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)
So, it’s the grand opening today of the Trump pop-up at the White House.
‘Pop-ups’ as we know, are only installed for a limited period of time. Most of them take place in empty properties that are available for lease. It is not clear yet for how long Mr. Trump’s store will be present in the historical government building, but there is a maximum time frame of eight years. It’s also not really clear why it must be the White House that is to become the host of Mr. Trump’s new business – it was said it had to do with ‘elections‘, plus some kind of complex misunderstandings amongst the US public and politics.
The Store’s Assortment is Expected to Be Full of Surprises
The Trump Game (Photo: Jim Sulley/AP)
Whatever the circumstances, let’s take a look at what the assortment in the store will be like. It is not officially confirmed yet, but expected to be full of surprises. There might be common brands available such as LEGO, launching an innovative play set called ‘DIY Your Own Career’ (in a special edition in which many bricks are missing). A game corner could present more than 50 exclusive varients of ‘Monopoly’, plus the popular alltime classic ‘Trump Game’. Another department could carry life advice books, with designated shelves for those with blank pages. Or maybe a selection of titles like ‘How To Fight And Win By Using Empty Promises’ or ‘How Chauvinism Can Be Successful In Politics‘.
And there’s more: a miniature, fictitious ‘Trump City’, alternatively available in solid gold (price on request) or in grey plastic ($17.76). There might also be a huge merchandising department on two floors carrying Trump brand products of all kinds: from extra long silk ties, life-size statues and blond hair dyes to plush “goldendoodle” dogs, a special Vodka collection and Swarovski encrusted toilet paper. Conceivable is also the opening of own Trump brand departments at Amazon and Alibaba.
A Breathtaking Shop Design, Not Open to the Public
As Mr. Trump is admired by many for his exquisite taste and superlative lifestyle, the interior design of the White House pop-up store is assumed to be literally breathtaking. A highlight might be a specially designed brocade wallpaper all over the walls and ceilings of the so-called Trump Showroom in the Oval Office. Rumours say the fabric might have been given as a present from a not mentioned far-east government. The opulent wallpaper shows the familiar bald eagle alternating with the exotic red golden pheasant – combining symbols for beauty, diversity and power.
Bald eagle facing red golden pheasant (Photos: Wikimedia Commons)
Unfortunately, the store won’t be publicly open to regular customers. It is conceived to be a ‘closed shop’. But we believe in Mr. Trumps ego to share his latest great designs and product innovations, preferably via Twitter. And we trust in Social Media that new whistleblowers will keep informing the world, e.g. in case the majority of the White House Pop-up assortments are actually manufactured in North Korea. In any case, we look forward to seeing Mr. Trump making white brick retail great again.
About the Author:
The author, Alexander von Keyserlingk, loves to explore innovative store concepts. He is always fascinated by brand growth stories which let the impossible come true.
(Title photo: Wikimedia Commons)
