VOL.95/2026.06

Knowledge

 

A “Popup-Addicted” Reporter’s Notebook: Covering Publisher Pop-up Stores

 

 

2026.06

 

 

Why buy a book at an offline bookstore when you can simply order it online? This was the question that emerged within the Korean publishing industry about twenty years ago, when online bookstores first made their debut. Recently, this question has shifted in an entirely different direction: “Why come all the way to a ‘pop-up store’ to buy a book that can be purchased anywhere?”

 

As a reader who has frequently sought out publisher pop-ups and book fairs, I have chewed over this very question. Why do I personally go all the way to a pop-up to buy a book? While some analysts suggest it is because “text” has simply become “hip,” the young readers I encounter on-site are demonstrating a different shift. To answer this question, I will trace the subtle evolution of publisher pop-ups that I have observed over the past three years.

 

 

It was in September 2023 that publishing houses began entering the pop-up market in earnest. To celebrate the publication of novelist Haruki Murakami’s The City and Its Uncertain Walls, the publisher Munhakdongne launched a pop-up store showcasing the author’s literary world. Taking inspiration from the boundary between reality and unreality that features prominently in the novel, Munhakdongne constructed a train station named “Murakami Haruki Station,” allowing visitors to explore the author’s entire catalog of published books.

 

Following the massive success of “Murakami Haruki Station,” which was so densely packed that it triggered intense “open runs” where eager crowds lined up long before opening hours, other publishing houses quickly followed suit with their own pop-ups. In April 2024, the publisher Changbi hosted “Poet-nic,” a pop-up store celebrating the publication of the 500th volume of the Changbi Poetry Series, at a complex cultural space near the Changbi Seogyo Building in Mapo-gu, Seoul. During the exact same month, Moonji Publishing also launched its own pop-up, titled “A Place for Poetry and You,” to commemorate the 600th volume of its poetry series, featuring interactive events such as a “Relay Poetry Reading with Poets.”

 

 

There are also cases where multiple publishing houses and related brands gather in one location to host a collaborative pop-up. A prime example is the “Reading Party” held in November last year at The Hyundai Seoul in Yeouido. Around 400 titles from publishers such as Wisdom House, Safehouse, and Dasan Books were exhibited and sold at their respective booths. In addition, dedicated booths were set up to showcase unique collaborations, including eyewear created by the publisher Minumsa in partnership with the eyewear brand Yun Seoul, as well as a perfume crafted by the publisher Green Ray together with the fragrance brand Selvatico. During the two weekend days when the venue was most heavily crowded, approximately 5,000 readers purchased books at this event alone.

 

The primary objective behind publishers opening pop-up stores lies in branding. A marketer from a publishing house noted, “Rather than being a significant driver for expanding book sales, pop-ups are more frequently launched as a strategic way to reach out to younger readers.” Marketers generally perceive that pop-ups yield a much greater branding effect than traditional book fairs. This is particularly true for comprehensive publishing houses; since they must arrange their book fair displays to reflect the diverse needs of various genres, it is difficult to project an image that highlights any single genre. This explains why they prefer pop-up stores, which allow them to narrow their focus down to a specific category like literature, or even further, to a single sub-genre or a single author.

 

 

Another defining characteristic is that the boundary between book fairs and pop-up stores is becoming increasingly blurred. The “Reading Party” earned the nickname “a mini book fair” because it featured booths from publishing houses that had bypassed the official book fairs that year. Similarly, events like “This is Text,” organized by 16 small-scale non-fiction publishers last January, and “Dear My Reader,” which brought together 39 indie publishing teams at The Hyundai Seoul last April, carry the distinct atmosphere of a traditional book fair by branding themselves as “book fairs.” However, they also possess strong characteristics of a pop-up store, given that they present highly curated, themed booths for a very limited duration.

 

Regardless of the format, there are two distinct categories of readers that publishers are targeting: “highly involved readers,” who possess a deep understanding of publishing houses and actively follow their events, and “lowly involved readers,” who may not know much about books but visit pop-ups out of sheer curiosity. Ultimately, the objective of these pop-up stores is to raise book awareness among all visitors, no matter what brought them to the booth, and seamlessly guide them toward making a purchase.

 

 

Intriguingly, the primary item that readers seek out at these pop-ups is shifting from merchandise back to the books themselves. While early publisher pop-ups relied heavily on merchandise and events to draw foot traffic, books are now taking center stage over peripheral goods at recent pop-up stores. An official from Wisdom House, which participated in the “Reading Party,” shared, “We prepared the merchandise with just as much care as the book designs, but the books, including our re-covered editions, sold significantly better.” Furthermore, “This is Text,” an event that completely eliminated merchandise to fill its booths solely with books and editors, experienced an estimated purchase rate of over 80%.

 

When asking readers visiting these book fairs and pop-ups, seven out of ten turn out to be casual readers who are not particularly close to books. They share comments such as, “I was just stopping by a nearby pop-up and walked in because I recognized a booth I saw on social media,” or “I visited the pop-up hoping to discover new books.” Perhaps what readers were truly seeking through these visits was simply a gateway to encounter books. The joy of reading, which cannot be fully explained by the word “hip” alone, is being actively transmitted within these temporary spaces called pop-up stores.

 

 

 

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Written by Hyeri Choi (Culture Reporter)

The author majored in Media & Communication and Film and Video Studies at Sungkyunkwan University, and currently covers books and visual media as a culture reporter for the JoongAng Ilbo. Driven by a keen interest in where people direct their attention today, the author deeply cherishes the moments of uncovering what lies just beyond those focal points. There remains a steadfast belief that short, precise daily records have the power to guide people toward a better place.