Mobile stores popping up in Cape Town

Cape Town - With the press of a button, the unassuming cargo container begins to unfold. Inside is a bar area. From its frame a spiral staircase – leading to a railed-off roof – begins to unwind.

The automated, and very mobile drinking-hole, is the future of events and pop-up shops, at least according to the young Hout Bay entrepreneurs behind the idea.

For the past week a prototype of the design has been planted just outside Camps Bay, said WolfPack Rentals founder Justin Anley.

The bar has drawn attention from passers-by who took to social media to comment on the speedy construction of the “new bar”.

But Anley said once the container had been engineered at their Epping warehouse, it was simply a case of transporting it to the location and letting the hydraulics inside do the rest of the work.

The 22-year-old, who already has one successful company under his belt, came up with the idea during a failed attempt to set up a floating bar at the end of one of the V&A Waterfront’s piers.

He had entered into the fruitless business venture with Alistair van Rooyen, 22, after the pair met about three years ago.

“It never really worked out. The problem was the location was too expensive,” said Anley.

But it got them thinking, what if location wasn’t an issue?

They saw the myriad pop-up shops that were springing up around Cape Town – stores fashioned from cardboard or appearing from the inside of trailers selling anything from smoked meats to expensive fashion.

Van Rooyen’s background of working in Epping’s steel industry was experience that ultimately meant the pair were certain they could capitalise on the trend.

They went to the drawing board and after six months had their first working prototype. Inside the skeleton of a cargo container they used hydraulics to create a system of moving parts that with a small electrical signal would transform the box into a bar.

The container near Camps Bay is a working example.

But the pair are not the first to see the value in pop-up shops and certainly not the first to re-purpose cargo containers.

In Melville, Joburg, the construction of a shopping mall made from more than 27 shipping containers has received the green light.

In Cape Town, there are already companies renting out re-purposed containers that can be used as homes or coffee shops.

But Anley said their business was taking the idea to a new level.

“The possibilities are endless,” he told the Cape Argus. “You can pretty much do anything with these things.”

At the time of going to print, there are five other containers under construction at the company’s warehouse. These containers include a lounge and a home.

He said they could custom-build containers for whatever purpose their clients required.

“The bottom line is that they are easily transportable and once you get to your location it’s all synced to an app on your phone and a single press of the button does the rest.”

There is already interest from overseas, with companies in The Netherlands and Mauritius looking to get their hands on a container, they say.

It’s early days for the business, but Anley is confident that WolfPack Rentals will succeed.

The company is set to roll out new versions of the containers in coming months.

Cape Argus