Pop Shop

The Pop Shop was a store owned by pop artist Keith Haring. Haring opened the first Pop Shop in New York City in 1986 (which closed in 2005) and later one in Tokyo (which closed in 1988). Haring viewed the Pop Shop as an extension of his work. It served to fulfill the artist's desire to make his iconic and beloved imagery accessible to the widest possible range of people both during his lifetime and posthumously through the Keith Haring Foundation. Every area of the store was devoted to Haring's work including floor-to-ceiling murals. The logo for the Pop Shop was a star with "Pop Shop" in the center.
First known for his chalk drawings in the New York City subway, Keith Haring gained international recognition after a solo exhibition at Tony Shafrazi Gallery in 1982. He continued to draw in the subways, but by 1984, people were stealing the pieces he made from the subways as his artwork became more expensive and more popular within the art market. The increase in value of his art meant only a select few could afford to buy it, and soon people were selling imitations of his drawings.
On April 19, 1986, Haring opened the first Pop Shop at 292 Lafayette Street in Manhattan's SoHo neighborhood. Haring stated that he opened a shop for two reasons. It was something he had wanted to do since he was 10 years old, and ''there were so many copies of my stuff around that I felt I had to do something myself so people would at least know what the real ones look like.'' The store was designed by the architectural firm of Moore & Pennoyer, but Haring painted the wall, floor and ceiling. The retail space was small, so the store was designed to use the space effectively. There was only one of each item on display, and a salesclerk checked off the things customers wanted to buy, then the merchandise was picked up at a counter. Haring compared the Pop Shop to a Brookstone shop, he added it was his "version of fast food or fast art.'' In addition to Haring's memorabilia, he also sold a few items by other artists. The shop was managed by Haring's friend Bobby Breslau until he died in 1987.
Haring's friend and mentor Andy Warhol was "a big supporter" of the Pop Shop. Haring felt the Pop Shop was "keeping ideologically with what Andy was doing and what conceptual artists and earth artists were doing: It was all about participation on a big level."
In January 1988, Haring collaborated with Japanese film producer Kaz Kuzui, and his American wife, film director Fran Rubel Kuzui to open a Pop Shop in Tokyo, in the Aoyama neighborhood. Photographer Tseng Kwong Chi recorded many events related to the creation of the Tokyo Pop Shop. The store was short-lived and closed in the summer of 1988 due to disappointing sales. Haring noted that there were "too many Haring fakes available all over Tokyo and, this time, they're really well done." When the shop closed, the painted containers that shaped the store were given to art publisher George Mulder of Berlin as a gift from Haring. The containers were restored and exhibited in Saint Tropez, France in 2005.
The New York Pop Shop closed on August 28, 2005. The store closed because the rent was increasing and the shop wasn't earning enough to cover expenses. Matthew Barolo, operations manager at the Keith Haring Foundation, felt the resources would be better spent for other projects. Pop Shop merchandise is still available through international licensing and exhibition related projects. The Keith Haring Foundation offers Haring memorabilia through an on-line Pop Shop. The original Pop Shop ceiling was later donated to the New York Historical Society and is installed in its entry.
In 2006, the exhibition Keith Haring: Art and Commerce at the Tampa Museum of Art. In 2009, the shop was reconstructed as part of London's Tate Modern's exhibition Pop Life: Art in a Material World.