Pop-up shops can be seen in towns and cities around Ireland – and the world – especially during peak periods, such as the summer season and the weeks leading up to Christmas.

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For consumers, these shops can offer a new and exciting experience, or just added convenience at busy times of the year, whilst for businesses, they are a lower-cost choice for makers, designers, artists and brands to sell and advertise their services and goods.

For companies or individuals considering a pop-up shop as a business option, there are things that should be considered to help optimise the chance of success and minimise risk factors.

The Right Location

The right space for the pop-up shop can be the make-or-break factor and there are a number of ways to find the best location. The first choice is to contact the local county council and discuss any potential retail spaces that might be on offer.

Councils will often be willing to consider genuine proposals as they would prefer not have commercial properties sitting empty in town or city centres.

Dún Laoghaire County Council, for example, was well known for setting up its own pop-up shop scheme. The aims of the initiative were to lower the visual impact caused by empty properties, as well as to increase footfall, provide lower cost space to be used by community organisations, local business and social enterprise, and to build publicity in the area.

Another possibility is to find a great space and then make a direct approach to the landlord.

Making the Most of Space

It is vital to make the most of the space that is chosen. This may mean making full use of in-house imagination or enlisting the services of Irish or Belfast shopfitting experts and specialists in designing pop-up shops such as RMC.

Rules and Regulations

People setting up pop-up shops must ensure that all regulations are complied with, these could be general laws or terms and conditions set by councils. More information about government business regulations can be found online.

In Dún Laoghaire, meanwhile, tenants must possess both contents and public liability insurance. They also have to demonstrate their appropriateness for a shop, as well as for the surrounding area, have some experience and not conflict with nearby retailers.

Dust mites are most commonly associated with our bed sheets and pillows. However, these tiny microscopic bugs don’t just like to share our pillows. They also love and breed in other areas such as carpets, car seats and cushions etc. Despite their immense popularity in our homes and even in the workplace, it can actually be quite difficult to detect their presence. This is because they are technically not parasites, and therefore they will not bite or sting us. Instead, they feed on our dead skin cells. It’s enough to make you shudder. But there are certain things you can do to help decrease the presence of these tiny bugs in your This makes spotting them increasingly difficult.

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What is a Dust Mite?

A dust mite is a microscopic insect that lives and breathes off our dead skin cells that we shed on a daily basis. They also eat cells shed from animals such as dogs and cats etc. Dust mites cause allergic symptoms to trigger such as itchy eyes and asthma attacks. They breed faster in warm and humid conditions. This tends to act as a problem all year round since in the spring and summer, high levels of pollen aggravate allergies even more. Whilst in the colder months, people tend to turn the heating up, providing the perfect temperature for dust mites to breed and multiply in their thousands.

Detecting their Presence

Whilst they tend to be most common at home, dust mites can also exist in the workplace, especially if there are carpets. Buildings with unclean air ducts will also experience a higher degree of dust mite infestations that buildings who keep their ducts and vents clean throughout the year. A Kent Duct cleaning company such as: http://www.enviro-group.eu/duct-cleaning-kent/, provides exceptional duct and vent cleaning services to all commercial properties.

Knowing whether or not you have a dust mite infestation in your workplace is quite simple. Take a look around and see if any of your employees are experiencing any of the following symptoms:

• Runny nose
• Irritated eyes
• Sneezing
• Itchy or watery eyes
• Nasal congestion
• Eczema
• Asthma
• Breathing difficulties
• Itchy nose or throat
• Coughing
• Swollen skin under the eyes

According to Environment, Health and Safety Online, you will shed enough skin cells a day to feed a million dust mites. With statistics like that, it seems impossible to do anything about the dust mite infestation problem. But as long as you try your best to control the amount of dust and dirt in the office, whether it be through sufficient duct cleaning or regular carpet cleaning, you will be able to dramatically decrease the presence of dust mites.