FAQ

Pop Up Grocer is a grocery store that features new, better-for you products. We champion emerging brands and their founders, to support their growth. You can explore our selection of items IRL, inside our pop-ups and permanent stores, and online, through our Brand Directory.

Our founder, Emily, used to roam the aisles of grocery stores, taking inspiration from the packaging, ingredients, and stories she found on the shelves. One day, she wondered: why isn’t there a space built for this behavior? That’s how it all began—the thought to create a grocery store containing only the items that spark creativity. From there, she opened the first pop-up shop, in NYC in 2019. It featured 100+ new brands from largely female founders, and was designed specifically for discovery, for people to feel energized by the things they uncovered.

We are guided by three core criteria, which you can find outlined here. Every item on our shelves is chosen with care; it is not there accidentally.

Yes! Starting this fall, we will offer curated boxes, which contain 5-8 items from the assortment within our store(s). As the brands we work with are excited at the opportunity to sample to new people, they are offered at a price significantly lower than what it would be to purchase each item individually. You can also check back regularly for exclusive product drops and collaborations. We offer free shipping, nationwide.

We feature brands with products that fall within the category of grocery: food, beverage, home, pet, and body care—with an emphasis on the first two.

We’d love to learn about you and your products! The best way to get your brand on our radar is to submit an application via the Apply page. From there, our team will glean as much info as we can from your website, to see if there’s a mutual fit. If so, we’ll connect with details and/or to chat further.

We review brands on a rolling basis, and typically make selections for locations 2-3 months in advance of each opening.

Details on The Fund can be found here. Each year, from a pool of applicants, we select one founder to receive a package of cash + creative services, to put toward the growth of their brand.

With our pop-ups, we travel city to city, and set up shop for 30 days, helping emerging brands gain valuable exposure in local markets.

We work directly with brands to coordinate product shipments to our store locations. We then put up for sale what is sent our way, at an instructed price, and anything unsold is shipped back—for sale elsewhere—or donated to a local food bank. It may also be eligible to be sampled through our boxes.