Have you been to any NYC pop ups lately? Well, now’s your chance.
New York City is a city of pop ups. We’ve been to a few pop ups and there while living in other cities, but here you can visit a new pop up every week.
We love that they create a sense of urgency to check them out, and it almost parallels the fact that we set up shop in a city for a year. It’s like our home office is a pop up too!
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Last Updated: November 3, 2025
What is a Pop Up?
So before we get into the pop up shops here, let’s talk about what a pop up is in the first place. Essentially, it is a business that opens for a limited time with a clear start and end date.
They come in many different forms, but most of them are exclusive or special in some way. The goal is never to be permanent, and sometimes they are only around for a month or a year before moving to another city (sounds like us right?).
Technically homegrown pop ups are everywhere and are as simple as someone putting up an umbrella and selling products in a busy area.
They are also your Halloween stores, Christmas shops, and firework stands. But as their popularity has increased, much more extravagant pop ups are being used by companies for marketing purposes. Most of the time, they are aimed to be very Instagram friendly for marketing.
Because we’re always popping up in a new city, we’ve partnered with CORT during our time in NYC. It helps us worry less about our space so that we can focus on exploring the city! Plus, we think they helped us make our place looks really good.
See More: 101 Things to Do in NYC
Types of Pop Ups
- Pop Up Shops – Temporary stores. We see a lot of these, especially during the holidays.
- Pop Up Restaurants – Some are run by chefs who are trying something experimental while others are more traditional restaurants with plans only to stay open for a few months. Also you can check out this blog post CORT did about the Popularity of Pop-Up Restaurants.
- Pop Up Art Installations – They can be more traditional art installations, but often times now, they are also meant to create photo opportunities for Instagram. We also included some art exhibitions in this category.
- Pop Up Events – These cover the rest, and they can come in the form of an impromptu listening party to release a new album to a temporary themed bar. These are typically meant to create hype around an upcoming event, release, or product.
See More: Top Free Things to Do in NYC
Current Pop Ups in NYC
One Piece x Mercer labs
21 Dey St, NYC, map
When: Through November 30, 2025
Admission: $58+
For the first time in New York City, Toei Animation and Mercer Labs present ONE PIECE x MERCER LABS — a groundbreaking immersive exhibition celebrating one of the most beloved anime franchises of all time.
Step into the world of Monkey D. Luffy and the Straw Hat Crew as they embark on one of their most dramatic adventures in the Land of Wano arc. Journey through breathtaking digital landscapes inspired bythe Land of Wano’s beauty and turmoil, and experience engaging installations that bring the legendary saga to life in stunning new ways.
In this arc, Luffy arrives at the Land of Wano to find its people and its once-beautiful lands devastated by the rule of Kaido, one of the Four Emperors, and his alliance with the shogun. As the Straw Hats fight to uncover allies and restore hope, the island’s tragic history unfolds. Now, for a limited time, fans can immerse themselves in this pivotal storyline through a fusion of art, storytelling, and cutting-edge technology that only Mercer Labs can deliver.
Check out our friends Reel here.
Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before CHristmas Light Trail
2900 Southern Blvd, Bronx, NY 10458, map
When: Through November 30, 2025
Admission: $39+
Experience Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas like never before at the New York Botanical Garden. This immersive light trail brings Jack Skellington’s world to life with dazzling lights, music, and all-new scenes in a breathtaking outdoor setting. Don’t miss it!
See more on our friend’s Reel.
In the Light of Innocence
159 Pioneer Street, Brooklyn, NY, map
When: Through December 14, 2025
Admission: FREE
Known for his use of modest, everyday materials, de Nieves explores aesthetic beauty while challenging its historical and religious underpinnings. His stained glass windows reference Western religious traditions—particularly, those of Catholicism—and ultimately reimagine places of worship as sites of transformation, in spite of their legacies of violence and exclusion. In Light of Innocence presents the site-specific installation of 50 faux stained glass panels, fitted throughout the windows that line the Main Hall as well as a monumental lightbox mural.
Two Home Countries
333 E 47th St, New York, NY, map
When: Through January 11, 2026
Admission: $15
Commemorating the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, Chiharu Shiota: Two Home Countries centers on a newly commissioned, site-specific installation that explores wartime experiences and memories. Placing the original installation in dialogue with other works from Shiota’s oeuvre, the exhibition creates parallels between the humanitarian tragedy of war and the artist’s personal struggles, including confronting her mortality and her bicultural identity living between two home countries. By drawing connections between collective and personal experience and memory, the exhibition contemplates universal issues such as history, humanity, loss, time, space, the body, and national identity.
Improvisations in the Park
11 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10010, map
When: Through March 15, 2026
Admission: FREE
Bell’s signature glass cubes and nested standing walls reflect the park, surrounding buildings, and people walking by as the light shifts across the day. His largest public art installation to date and first outdoors exhibition in New York City, the works showcase the interactions between light and space through Madison Square Park’s natural dynamism.
The Friends Experience
130 East 23rd St, map
When: Ongoing
Admission: $45
The first flagship location celebrating the iconic TV show opens tomorrow! With two floors of interactive experiences, you can step inside the world of FRIENDS™. Pose on the iconic orange couch, explore newly added original props and costumes from the show like Chandler’s bunny suit, sit in Monica & Rachel’s living room or poke Ugly Naked Guy. There’s even a Central Perk onsite.
Museum of IceCream
558 Broadway, map
When: Thursday to Sunday
Admission: $39
We’re so excited to welcome you to our first Flagship in NYC. MOIC NYC features our most imaginative, multi-sensory installations that bring to life your most delightful dreams: savor the sweetest treats on a floating table, ride our out-of-this-world pink “Celestial Subway,” slide down an epic three-story slide, and follow the sound of a buzz that will lead you to a giant “Queen Bee hive.” Taste our new signature ice cream flavors and ice cream treats along the way, before taking a dive into the largest Sprinkle Pool yet!
Sloomoo Institute
475 Broadway, New York, NY 10013, map
When: Every Weekend 10am – 5pm
Admission: $39
A sensory playground centered around slime, Sloomoo Institute is an artistic universe made to intrigue, delight, and evoke your inner child. Slime inspires wonder and joy, regardless of age. More than a childhood memory or a satisfying social media trend, slime is artful, oozy fun. Even more, it is known to support stress relief as much as it does your imagination.
Jump for Joy: Bouncy Castle of Breasts
233 5th Ave, 10016, map
When: Ongoing
Admission: $3.50 in addition to museum admission
A bouncy castle made up of giant inflatable breasts makes for fun photos and video (adults only). We weren’t that impressed with the museum itself and opted not to pay the additional $3.50 for the photo, but plenty of people were taking advantage of it. The photo they promote uses studio lights, so you won’t get the same look.
Past Pop Ups
There have been some really cool pop ups over the years. Some of our favorites inlcude Rose Mansion, The Seinfeld Experience, 29 Rooms, Mickey the True Original Exhibition, Dream Machine, Museum of Pizza, Bob’s Burgers, and more. Here are some of the highlights.
General Tips for Visiting Pop Ups
- Best time to visit is weekdays during the day and right before it opens. Some of the more popular pop ups have a long wait.
- If shooting with a DSLR, don’t use auto white balance for many of these places especially if you’re in a room with a lot of unnatural colors (ie yellows at Egg House and blues at Dream Machine). We recommend using Kelvin and finding the right setting for your camera.
- Bring a versatile lens and a wide angle if you want to include more of the environment in the shot. A lot of these rooms are small, so the wide angle helps a lot. We couldn’t take certain shots with our DSLR (Canon 5D Mark IV + 35mm Lens), because it wasn’t wide enough so we just used our phones.
How to Find the Latest NYC Pop Up Events?
This one is tough! Most of them make announcements relatively last minute, so these are some ways to stay up-to-date.
- Bookmark this page since we’ll be updating this post as often as possible with new events.
- Set up Google Alerts to see what’s popping up in the news. If you’re not familiar with this, go to the Google Alerts page and enter “pop up new york, nyc pop up” into the Create an Alert section. You can then select how often you want to receive emails (as it happens, daily, or weekly). I do daily.
- Follow Instagram accounts that are constantly featuring pop ups and events. You can follow our accounts (EstherJulee & JacobTheFu). We post stories from pop ups immediately. Also, you absolutely need to follow our friend at FOMOFEED who does a ton of research to hunt down all the best art spots in NYC. For more events and happenings, follow our friend nycharlene.
We’re going to do our best to feature all our favorites in this blog post, but if you know of any pop-ups you think we should check out, send us a message at [email protected].
Best Places to Stay
Planning Checklist
- Get comprehensive insurance for your trip.
- Download these helpful language apps.
- Find a great deal on NYC hotels.
- Arrange a rental car for your trip.
- Book a tour for your visit.
- Get airport lounge access.
- Buy a travel charger to keep your devices charged.
- Get a new backpack for your trip.
- Buy a New York travel guide.
- Pack the appropriate shoes for your trip.
- Don’t forget your in-flight essentials.
- Save money on attractions with City Pass.
Have you visited any of these pop up shops? Do you have something similar in your hometown?
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“Discovery consists not of seeking new lands but in seeing with new eyes” – M. Proust
Esther + Jacob
Esther and Jacob are the founders of Local Adventurer, one of the top 5 travel blogs in the US. They believe that adventure can be found near and far and hope to inspire others to explore locally. They explore a new city in depth every year and currently base themselves in Las Vegas.
Follow on Instagram (E + J), YouTube, TikTok, and Pinterest.
