空置店面能否取代宴会厅？从Visit Newport Beach纽约快闪看非传统活动场地的机遇与挑战

Skift Take

Vacant storefronts may seem like eyesores, but they can represent a real opportunity for planners who want blank walls and a contemporary sense of cool. The downside: They lack the built-in convenience of a traditional event environment.

A California beach appeared in a vacant Manhattan storefront. A few doors away, visitors boarded a sailboat at sunset. Another empty retail space became a luxury resort experience, complete with an oversized caviar tin transformed into a playful ball pit.

For Visit Newport Beach, four vacant storefronts in New York’s Nolita neighborhood became something a hotel ballroom couldn’t offer: a series of immersive environments that brought the Southern California destination to approximately 2,000 visitors over three days.

The activation targeted leisure guests, but it also raises a question for meetings: Could empty retail spaces become the next alternative to traditional venues? 

According to IACC’s 2025 Meeting Room of the Future research, 51% of planners are sourcing non-traditional venues. It’s a notable uptick from the 33% that were doing so in 2023. 

From Empty Retail Space to Immersive Experience

Visit Newport Beach deliberately chose storefronts rather than a hotel ballroom or conventional event venue.

“For us, it came down to the audience, the objective and the opportunity to do something unexpected,” said Ashley Johnson, senior vice president and chief marketing officer at Visit Newport Beach.

The organization wanted to reach New Yorkers where they already shopped, dined, and socialized. The program began with a private preview for media, influencers, and VIPs before opening to the public.

“We weren’t simply trying to host an event in New York. We wanted to transport New Yorkers to Newport Beach,” Johnson said.

Working with pop-up agency Gloss Media,  Visit Newport Beach identified four vacant storefronts within walking distance of one another.

Each became a different chapter of the destination: The Clubhouse, Beach Stroll, Golden Hour Sail, and Midnight Dip. Together, the experiences evoked Newport Beach’s beaches, harbor, luxury resorts, and hospitality.

A custom boat-inspired pedicab transported guests through the neighborhood, extending the experience beyond the storefronts.

“Every doorway became another chapter of Newport Beach, and the neighborhood itself became part of the experience,” Johnson said. “That’s something you simply can’t replicate in a traditional ballroom.”

Retail Spaces Are Already Becoming Gathering Places

Visit Newport Beach isn’t the only organization finding new uses for empty retail properties.

In downtown Toronto, real estate company QuadReal transformed a former convenience store at 200 King Street West into The Green Room, an Art Deco-inspired lounge for tenant meetings and events.

Designed by Figure3, the space feels more like an intimate speakeasy than a traditional conference room. It was created to give building tenants somewhere to meet, collaborate, and entertain clients.

The project shows how underused retail space can become a business amenity instead of remaining vacant. For planners interested in temporary spaces, platforms such as  The Storefront and PopShop let landlords list venue rentals. 

Making Small Spaces Feel Personal

For corporate meeting planners, unconventional spaces appeal for more than novelty. Instead of adapting a concept to an existing ballroom, organizers can build an environment around the event’s objectives.

Johnson sees considerable potential for the approach.

“Rather than planning a series of individual events, you could create a narrative that begins before guests arrive and unfolds through every activity, meal, interaction and unexpected moment,” said Johnson.

Visit Newport Beach’s activation balanced intimacy with volume.

Guests were greeted by a fictional club general manager who already knew their names. Other experiences, including the beach installation and caviar pool, accommodated larger groups.

“We carefully managed capacity, guest flow and timing so that even with thousands of visitors, the experience still felt personal,” Johnson said.

For meeting planners, that approach suggests a different way to think about capacity.

Instead of accommodating hundreds or thousands of attendees simultaneously, organizers could design a series of smaller experiences that reach a larger audience over several days.

At first glance, the economics can be attractive. 

A 2,800-square-foot Los Angeles space with a private lounge and full bar setup was advertised on PopShop for $1,500 per day. A vacant restaurant in Chicago’s South Loop was listed for $870 per day. 

But the rental fee is only the starting point.

Unlike hotels and conference centers, vacant storefronts may lack the infrastructure planners take for granted. Planners must evaluate restrooms, accessibility, catering facilities, power, internet connectivity, insurance, security, and occupancy limits.

Visit Newport Beach experienced those logistical challenges firsthand. Because the storefront leases operated in seven-day cycles, the production team had less than 24 hours to transform all four locations before welcoming guests.

Much of the fabrication happened off-site. The team shipped materials across the country, brought real sand into Manhattan, and used projection mapping to create an immersive sailboat experience.

Each location required separate staffing, technology, and guest-flow management.

The activation also involved 12 ambassadors, including performers with Broadway backgrounds, who portrayed fictional Vacation Club employees. Visit Newport Beach developed a 25-page character and hospitality guide to ensure consistent guest interactions.

“We weren’t just producing four physical environments. We were producing an entire hospitality experience,” Johnson said.

The trade-off is clear: Empty storefronts give planners more freedom to create something distinctive, but they also shift much of the operational responsibility from the venue to the event team.

The question isn’t simply whether a vacant storefront can become an event venue. It’s whether the experience justifies the work required to make it one.