A difficult retail climate in Bermuda is fuelling the trend towards more pop-up stores.

But Gibbons Company is finding success in cyber sales, through soaring website traffic.

“Retail right now is difficult, challenging and exciting all at the same time,” said Tony Thompson, the Gibbons Company chief executive who has been in the business more than 20 years.

The sales volume for apparel stores decreased 6.1 per cent, the latest Retail Sales Index figures showed; and that followed a decrease of 1.6 per cent the month before.

Gibbons Company has launched its third pop-up store, this time carrying one of the world’s most popular athletic brands.

Under Armour at 10 Queen Street in Hamilton, sells T-shirts, sneakers, exercise clothing, underwear and trendy apparel items.

“Under Armour is the top sportswear brand, after Nike and adidas,” Mr Thompson said. “We sell Nike and adidas, but we didn't have the space in the main store to sell Under Armour.”

When a location became available in another Gibbons building, Mr Thompson moved in.

“We thought it would be a good time to test if Under Armour is a brand that we want to carry,” he said. “It will stay for as long as our customers want it to stay.

In October, Gibbons opened Contained, as a temporary store at 17 Reid Street, offering storage solutions, closet organisers, shoe racks, baskets and plastic containers.

Contained senior salesman Nino Lombardi said some customers have called it “organisational heaven”.

Having passed the customer interest test, Gibbons is making Contained a permanent fixture.

Gibbons opened its first pop-up on Church Street a year ago selling Converse sneakers. When Christmas came, it switched to Disney products, then switched back to Converse after the holiday.

Mr Thompson said pop-ups add flexibility, taking away some of the risk of opening a new store.

“People who are renting from other entities are not being tied into long leases,” he said. “They may not want a five-year lease for something they are unsure about.”

Gibbons marketing and e-commerce manager Libby Cook-Toppan said even a one-year lease can kill a small business if they do not get the expected traffic.

Mr Thompson said temporary stores are fun and work well on the island.

“This allows us to present new things every couple of months that customers can get excited about. When they are not as interested any more, we can pull it back and do something else.”

With Under Armour open just in time for Christmas, Mr Thompson was feeling hopeful about the holiday season.

A good sign in retail is the surge in traffic Gibbons has seen on its online store over the past year. Locals are scrutinising the company’s webpages before looking at overseas sites.

This is translating into more people buying directly from the Gibbons website, and more people in the physical store.

Although there have been numerous “Buy Bermuda” campaigns in the past few years, Gibbons senior saleswoman Toni D’Amato attributed the interest in the website to the high cost of importing goods to the island.

“I was looking at buying something for my granddaughter that was under $20 on the web,” Ms D’Amato said. “By the time I brought it in from overseas, it would have been over $80. Sometimes you just get more bang for your buck, locally.”