Barbie Just Signed a Short-Term Lease

What do you do with a retail space that's been sitting empty for fourteen months? The sign's up. You've dropped the asking rent twice. A couple of tire-kickers walked through. Nobody signed.

Most landlords just wait. They hold the line. They tell themselves the right tenant is around the corner.

A company called Bucket Listers looked at that same problem and saw an opportunity. They take vacant or underperforming commercial space — retail centers, restaurants, hotel event rooms, even rooftops — and turn them into ticketed pop-up experiences built around brands people already love. Candy Land. Barbie. Golden Girls. Full-scale immersive environments where customers walk into a life-size version of a board game or a TV show set, buy a $25 ticket, post it everywhere, and drag their friends back next weekend.

Since 2018, they've drawn more than 250,000 people across nearly 20 cities in the U.S. and Australia. Right now they're running a Candy Land Cafe inside a restaurant in San Diego that stays fully booked. A Malibu Barbie Cafe opens in Toronto this month. And they're already operating events right here in DC.

This concept solves two problems at once. The landlord gets revenue from a space that's been generating nothing. The pop-up operator gets a short-term, flexible lease — weeks or months, not years — which means the landlord can still pivot when the right long-term tenant finally shows up. Short lease. Real capital. No five-year commitment on either side.

I've watched this play out in shopping centers and single-tenant pads across the DMV. A space sits empty for a year and a half. The "For Lease" sign fades in the sun until people start giving directions by it. The parking lot feels abandoned. Then somebody drops in a seasonal activation or a food pop-up, and suddenly there's foot traffic again. Energy. The neighboring tenants notice. The landlord remembers what occupancy feels like.

A "For Lease" sign that's been up for two years isn't marketing. It's a confession.

A pop-up in a vacant storefront is like a relief pitcher. The starter left the game early. The closer isn't warmed up yet. But somebody's got to keep the ball in play. You don't win by leaving the mound empty.

And the creativity matters more than people realize. A Candy Land walkthrough inside a restaurant isn't just filling square footage. It's proving the space works. It's showing potential long-term tenants that the location draws a crowd. That's more persuasive than any broker flyer.

If you're a new business looking for your first location, a pop-up is a low-risk way to test a corridor, build a following, and prove your concept before you lock into a long-term lease. And if you're a landlord sitting on dead space, the play isn't always waiting for the five-year NNN deal — that's triple net, where the tenant pays rent plus taxes, insurance, and maintenance. NNN is the gold standard. But while you're holding out for gold, the vacancy is costing you real money every single month.

What's your empty space doing right now?

Until next time — Ed