Instagram pop-up experiences lay off employees as the business tanks

Color Factory CEO Jeff Lind knew his Instagram pop-up experience had to close when the NBA canceled the remainder of its season. He was watching the Utah Jazz game when the announcers confirmed the match’s postponement, followed by the league halting all future games.

“That’s when I started making the decision that we’re going to have to close New York immediately,” he says. “You just kind of realize this industry is so big — sports, rodeo, experiential museums, museums. That was kind of the canary in the coal mine that the world was changing beneath our feet.”

Two of the most well-known photogenic experiences — Color Factory and Museum of Ice Cream — tell The Verge that the COVID-19 pandemic is producing a fallout in the experiences...

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