Online resale retailer debuting pop-up shop

Mercari, an online marketplace for buying and selling secondhand items, will launch its first-ever experiential pop-up shop in time for the New Year.

The new physical pop-up shop will be located in the Stonestown Galleria shopping center in San Francisco, opening on Dec. 29, 2021. The San Francisco pop-up shop will feature four experiential zones where customers can buy and sell products ranging from everyday household goods to one-of-a-kind vintage items.

Customers selling items can receive up to $100 per day, on the spot, with payment conducted via Venmo or PayPal app. On-site experts will assess the value of each item, with a $30 per item maximum applying, and customers must be at least 18 years of age or accompanied by an adult. Customers must own the item, and in some cases proof of ownership may be required.

Popular categories accepted at the pop-up include clothing, toys and games, kitchenware, sports gear, and home decor items. Items that will not be purchased include, and are not limited to, luxury branded goods, used beauty products, collectibles, and trading cards.

Mercari's pop-up shop will be located on the second floor in the Stonestown Galleria Mall in San Francisco. The in-person storefront will be open for a limited time, beginning Dec. 29, 2021, through Feb. 12, 2022.

Resale is a rapidly growing business. According to the ninth annual “2021 Resale Report” from online resale platform ThredUp Inc. and retail analytics firm GlobalData, secondhand apparel, shoes, and accessories is now a $36 billion market, projected to double in the next five years to $77 billion.

Resale is expected to grow 11 times faster than firsthand retail clothing sales over the next five years. addition, resale sales are expected to be more than twice the size of fast fashion sales by 2030, with two in five resale consumers saying they're replacing fast fashion purchases with secondhand clothing. In 2020, 33 million consumers bought secondhand apparel for the first time, and 76% of those first-time buyers plan to increase their spend on secondhand in the next five years.

As online resale grows, some retailers in the vertical are extending into the brick-and-mortar space. Rebag recently opened its ninth physical store, in Beverly Hills, and ThredUp and Madewell have joined forces to open a store that only sells previously owned Madewell items in Brooklyn.

“We are bringing the Mercari seller experience to life in a brand new way this year," said John Lagerling, Mercari US CEO. "Our 2021 holiday report found that people will receive an average of 3.8 unwanted gifts this holiday season, which projects to almost 1 billion unused items sitting around American homes. Our hope is that people who visit our pop-up will see just how easy it is to sell on Mercari and walk away inspired to earn money from their unused items."

[Read more: Resale market to get holiday surge, says study]