2024 to 2025: Lessons from Project Popup Melrose

All photos in this post were beautifully captured by Jill Paz of Early Creative.

Last year, I transformed a temporary storefront in Melrose, MA into my own mini gallery through Project Popup Melrose, part of UpNext’s Project: Popup initiative. The experience was so worthwhile, with a big boost in sales and a huge boost in confidence — it was so rewarding to see my work all up in one place, make connections in the community, and even get my booth professionally photographed. So when this opportunity popped up again this fall, I dropped everything to complete my application.

I’ve now just wrapped up my second Project Popup Melrose and I can’t wait to share all of the learnings and data from this weeklong experience. I’ll be covering what changed year over year, what stayed the same, traffic and sales analysis, and lessons learned.

Why This Popup Is So Special

Why do I love Project Popup Melrose so much? It’s an affordable, grant-funded program that provides small businesses with turnkey retail opportunities, allowing them to set up short-term popup shop spaces in their communities. Many who participate in the program are looking to test out a retail concept with the long-term goal of opening a brick-and-mortar shop. TBH, that’s not my goal. I’m a classic WFH person who likes to poke my head out from time to time. So doing a weeklong engagement like Project Popup Melrose to introduce my work to the community — and get a nice sales boost while I’m at it — is exactly my speed.

What Stayed the Same

This popup is a partnership between Project: Popup, the City of Melrose, and the Melrose Family YMCA. The box is dropped off in the fall and sits nicely on a small turf area outside of the Y for about six weeks (a new vendor each week during the holiday season). This is (I believe) the third year Project Popup Melrose has run, so locals have gotten very used to seeing this box and are excited for its return. Consistency is SO important when it comes to retail, and I’m really grateful to see this partnership continue to grow. Though I popped up about two weeks earlier this year, I was present Wednesday–Sunday both times, giving me a good data set to make daily sales comparisons.

What Changed

Cosmetically

There were some minor changes and some that were more impactful — let’s get into it. The box this year was white, while last year’s was sky blue. This year’s box felt about one to two feet wider, which does make a big difference, and it was equipped with a window that let in some natural light. Other than that, the fixtures and other features were pretty similar.

Product

Last year, I was quite new to the concept of selling original paintings and had only just begun bringing them to in-person selling opportunities. They were all one-offs, and while they looked good together, they didn’t match a particular theme. With just one small wall of about eight original paintings, I dedicated most of last year’s space to framed prints, helping customers visualize those prints in their homes.

There’s nothing wrong with painting one-off originals, but this year my approach transitioned toward collections. For a popup like Project Popup Melrose, I believe displaying paintings in cohesive collections is aesthetically pleasing and makes the entire display feel more intentional. This year, I brought three notable collections: Returning to Bloom, Summer Botanica, and Tomatoes. Over the past year, I’ve leaned heavily toward botanicals, with still lives and landscapes on the back burner; naturally, my originals in the booth were much more complementary to each other.

Also — do I dare toot my own horn — I’ve gotten better at painting! I’ve created more than 30 new original works since my last appearance in Melrose. I’m so proud of the growth I’ve made in my art practice this past year. Project Popup Melrose has become a snapshot of where I am annually — what’s inspiring me and what I’m prioritizing in my creative life. Recently, my love for garment sewing has crept its way into my art, with reclaimed textiles serving as complementary matting, primarily featured in my Summer Botanica Collection. This year, my original paintings were the main event. Though I only sold two, the originals were eye-catching and served as samples for those more interested in the print price point.

Pricing

I made the strategic choice to increase my pricing by about 10% in 2025. I hadn’t done so since starting my business in 2023, and it felt like the right time to accurately reflect the leaps and bounds I’ve made in my art practice.

Though my overall pricing was higher than last year, I experimented with offering discounts on archived print designs and mystery card packs. My art style is constantly evolving, and there have been times when I’ve ordered too many prints from my local shop before really testing their viability in the market. I put archived print designs at 25% off and packaged archived cards into mystery packs wrapped in brown paper — leaning into the Halloween vibes! I rarely put my work on sale, but I’m happy to do so when I’ve decided to sunset some of my old designs. This experiment worked nicely and it feels good to make some new space in my studio!

Preparation

This year, prep was really a breeze. Markets at this point feel like rinse and repeat since I’ve developed systems to efficiently plan for and execute them. This includes routinely tracking inventory, comparing inventory against sales data, relying on tried-and-true packing lists, and the simplest of all — my wagon. I have an extra-long wagon that fits everything into one trip from the car (yes, it’s sort of a competition). Plus, I had learnings from last year’s Project Popup Melrose — foot traffic patterns, combatting wind, and knowing where the closest Starbucks is — that put most of my worries at ease. I was oddly calm, which for a person like me is a bit concerning! Was I forgetting something? Turns out I wasn’t — I’m getting good at this.

Key Moments

Some members of the UpNext Team (Allison, Kristin, and Jill) visited to support my booth, take photos, and do a quick ribbon cutting! Jill was kind enough to also capture some gorgeous photos of my popup, which you'll see in this post.

I sold two original paintings: Peony #2 from my Summer Botanica Collection and Tomato #3  from my Tomatoes Collection. Peony #2 went to Andrew, a past collector of my Blueberries original painting, and Erica and Tony took home Tomato #3 . I’m always floored when someone wants to buy an original painting — the feeling never gets old!

I had many visits from folks I met last year in Melrose, namely my friend Lynda, who’s become my unofficial brand ambassador! I also met some other local businesses, including Cotton+Blue and Paper+Clay, both of whom I plan to collaborate with in the future.

Challenges + Lessons Learned

I had hoped to paint live at the booth as an engaging experience for customers, but it just wasn’t in the cards. I knew ahead of time that my easel would have to be set up outside of the box, as there wasn’t enough room inside, but it was just too windy. I’m still interested in trying to make it work for next year’s Project Popup Melrose, though!

But, I didn't let the wind get me down too much, because I was able to gain some amazing lessons from the data I was seeing.

First. let's jump into Revenue at the 2024 popup vs 2025.

Revenue Takeaways

• Wed, Th, Fri Revenue is almost identical YoY

• Performance on Sat 2025 was very close to Sun 2024.

• Sat 2025 was biggest day yet, very much due to the 5k going on in the morning. 

• 2024 Weekend had the Melrose Open Studios Tour, so it was busy all weekend with that foot traffic. 

  
  

So what's the story here? Revenue should increase steadily throughout the week, and I can bet on either Sat or Sun being my best days. Both years, the weekend was tied to a town event, which is very advantageous for the popup given the close proximity of foot traffic. Sundays may generally be quiet due to football season, but if an event is going on (like the Open Studios Tour), you can bet on Sunday being a great day.

Now, let's take a look at the number of products sold. This is a total of all original paintings, prints, and card packs sold at the popup.

This one is tightly correlated to my revenue takeaways.

Lastly, let's dig into how much of each type of product I sold.

Type of Products

• All mostly similar YoY

• Noteworthy decrease in 8x10 sales - most of my new originals completed this year were 5x7 and make most sense as 5x7 prints so that may explain the decrease in 8x10.

All of that data aside, this is the most exciting thing I gleaned: Though there was a decline in # of customers at this year's popup (far left graph), customers are buying more products on average (middle) and spending more on average (right)!

My best guess as to why this is? As I've begun to paint more strategically in collections, I'm providing customers the opportunity to shop from complimentary designs, which in turn promotes more items per customer and therefore more spend per customer.

Reflections on Growth

Popping up in the same location, at almost the exact same time of year, for the same number of days is almost like running a scientific study. Those basic variables are isolated, and it’s much easier to see how my new artworks and stylistic development impacted sales. Any artist knows that popping up in person for a short time is hit or miss — variables like weather, economic conditions, and product-market fit all make a big impact, but it’s almost always impossible to predict how that impact will play out. That’s why I’m really grateful (and honestly relieved) to have had such a warm welcome from Project Popup Melrose yet again, with very consistent sales numbers, promising stats, and new faces I can now call friends.

What’s Next

What’s next for me? I hope to return to Project Popup Melrose next year, and I’m already brainstorming ways to make the experience unique. I may use that opportunity to launch a collection in person before it’s shown online, offer popup-only products and incentives, and hopefully get the chance to paint live.

Are you looking to host a popup in your town, or have ideas of where I should popup next? Shoot me an email at hello@daphneraecreative.com.