Dr Helen Damon, a psychologist and senior lecturer in counselling psychology at City University, agrees that being part of an exclusive pop-up experience — especially one as momentary as Rhode’s — is a serious flex. “If anyone could walk in at any time and buy those products, they wouldn’t be perceived as valuable,” Dr Damon tells me. Rhode is direct-to-consumer and that makes it feel exclusive. “[People think], I’m in a prized position or I’m at a prized location, and you’re not,” says Dr Damon. Filming the queuing, especially, acts as proof of the value of the event, she adds. “It builds anticipation and increases the sense of ‘achievement’ of scoring a product.”
