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Shopify Pop Up Shop: Plan a Temporary Store With Shopify POS

Updated , first published · 4 min read

A Shopify pop-up shop is a temporary physical store run with the Shopify POS app: you sell from a phone or tablet with a card reader, and the sales, stock and customers land in the same admin as your online store. Shopify’s basic POS features are included on every subscription plan, so a pop-up needs no extra software plan. Most of the planning goes into a separate location for the event’s stock, staff accounts, payments that work at the venue, and a test before the day.

The Shopify side comes from the Help Center pages on getting started with POS, locations and inventory transfers, read on October 23, 2026. This article covers physical pop-up shops; website popups are a separate subject.

What Shopify gives a pop-up

  • POS on any plan. The basic Shopify POS features are available on every Shopify subscription plan at no extra cost. Extra retail features need Shopify POS Pro, which is assigned per location.
  • One admin. Products, prices, customers and reports are shared with your online store, so a customer who buys at the stall can be emailed later if they agreed to marketing.
  • Locations. The event can be its own location with its own stock. The Basic, Grow and Advanced plans allow 10 active locations and Starter 2, and deactivated locations don’t count toward the limit.
  • Hardware kits that bundle compatible components at a discount, on all plans, where Shopify’s hardware store is available.

For a weekend stall, basic POS on your existing plan is where to start. POS Pro is worth a look when the pop-up becomes a recurring store with staff and more stock.

The planning checklist

  1. Dates, venue and power. Confirm the hours, whether there’s Wi-Fi or mobile coverage at the stand, and where you can charge devices.
  2. Products and quantities. Pick a focused range: your best sellers plus anything you want people to touch and try. Decide quantities from what you can carry and what you sold at similar events, if you have that data.
  3. Create a location for the event. Go to Settings > Locations > Add location, name it (“Spring Market 2026”) and add the venue address. Turn off Inventory at this location is available to fulfill online orders so web orders aren’t routed to stock sitting in a van.
  4. Move the stock. Create an inventory transfer from your main location to the event location, mark it ready to ship or in transit, and receive it at the event in Shopify POS. Transfers track what left and what arrived, including partial receipts.
  5. Staff. Add staff accounts for whoever sells at the stand, with the permissions they need.
  6. Payments. Pair a supported card reader with the POS app and decide whether you take cash. The hardware section below links to the readers, regions and current prices.
  7. Prices and discounts. Decide whether event prices match online prices. A discount code for visitors to use online later is one way to carry the event into your store.
  8. Signage and capture. Bring a QR code or short URL for your store, and decide how you’ll ask visitors to sign up for email, with their consent.
  9. Test day. Sell a real product to yourself through the reader, refund it, print or send a receipt, and check the sale appears under the event location.

Hardware

A phone or tablet with the Shopify POS app and a card reader is enough to take card payments. Add a receipt printer, barcode scanner, cash drawer or stand only if the stall needs it. Model choice, regional availability and prices are in the POS hardware guide.

After the event

Sales made at the stand are recorded against the event location, so the Gross profit by POS location report shows what the event earned, provided your products have a cost per item. Then:

  • Count what’s left and transfer it back to your main location, so online stock is right again.
  • Deactivate the event location if you won’t use it soon. Deactivating doesn’t change its inventory quantities, but if orders or transfers are assigned to it, Shopify prompts you to fulfill them and reassign the inventory during deactivation, and a location on POS Pro has to be downgraded before it can be deactivated.
  • Email the customers who agreed to marketing at the stand, with photos from the day and the code you promised.
  • Write down what sold out, what didn’t move and the busiest hour; it’s the starting point for the next event.

This guide sits in our email and popups hub, next to the pop-up hardware guide.

FAQ

Can I run a pop-up shop on the Shopify Basic plan? The basic Shopify POS features are available on every Shopify subscription plan, including Basic, at no extra cost. You need the POS app and a supported card reader.

Do I need Shopify POS Pro for a pop-up shop? A pop-up can run on the basic POS features. POS Pro adds extra retail features and is set per location, which matters more for a permanent shop than for a weekend stall.

How do I track pop-up sales separately? Create a location for the event and sell from it in POS. Sales and stock are then recorded against that location, and the profit reports can be grouped by POS location.

Can I sell online stock at the event? Move the stock you plan to sell to the event location with an inventory transfer, so POS sales draw from it, and move what’s left back afterward. Turning off online fulfillment for the event location keeps web orders from being routed to it.