Blink and it’s gone and as you read this, the removal men will only be a couple of weeks away from descending on Spitalfields to empty the Vans pop-up store that has been trading on Brushfield Street since August 12.

This has actually been the first temporary store from the skate and sneaker brand and in the best traditions of pop-up stores it was created to mark an occasion, the Vans Downtown Showdown, a skate competition that took place last Saturday in Spitalfields market.

Designed by consultancy Green Room, the store itself is located in a former art gallery and is intended to be reminiscent of a Victorian spit and sawdust pub with props including barrels, a grand(ish) piano, an antique hat stand, lanterns and modesty screens. Also worth noting is the wallpaper, printed to look like old brick with a shadowy figure lurking in one corner, supposed to remind the onlooker of Jack the Ripper, who operated in these parts. And somewhere, amid all of this, is the product – patterned canvas shoes for the most part – providing a shot of colour in a relatively dark fit-out.

The point about this pop-up is that it is true to the spirit of a formula that is all too frequently being hijacked by large brands and put into big department stores in what might have been known, in any other life, as an in-store promotion.

It also happens to look rough and ready, the other part of the pop-up ethos that is beginning to be overlooked as temporary stores become slicker and do seem to be around for longer.

The store is worth a visit if only to see what is possible on a limited budget.

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