AC/DC Pop-Up Store In Houston, TX With Photos!

Tuesday, September 1, 2026 at 10:06 AM

By Larry Petro @petrofyed

At Henke & Pillot In Downtown In Advance Of The Band's August 31st Performance At Reliant Stadium

For those of you wondering what exactly a 'pop-up store' is, it's a short-term, temporary retail space that opens for days, weeks, or a few months before closing down. In the case of larger rock acts, it's a place to meet with other fans, view pieces of history from the band and even get photos with some of the items, enter for giveaways and get early access to band merchandise, some of which is only available at the pop-up stores. These pop-up stores generally open up the day before the show through the day of.

There aren't too many bands big enough to pull off this kind of setup and I can only think of one other band that has done this, that being METALLICA. I'm sure there may be others but that's the only one I'm sure of. For the AC/DC pop-up store in Houston it opened on Sunday and Monday, August 30th & 31st at a two-story bar in downtown Houston called Henke & Pillot. However, members of the press who were invited and fans who RSVP'd online were allowed early access to the store on Saturday, August 29th from 7-9pm.

As a member of the press representing KNAC I was able to walk right in when I got there at 6:30 while a line of fans had already started forming outside. I was greeted by the pop-up store coordinator and since the only other people inside at that time were pop-up store staff and bar employees I was given a personal tour of the store after receiving my VIP gift bag which consisted of a tour t-shirt (of which I had given PR my size ahead of time), an 11x17 tour flyer with the cities listed, a few AC/DC PwrUp stickers and a lanyard with and 'Early Access' laminate with the Houston date on it.

After the tour I was free to wander around, gather photos and chat with people prior to the doors actually opening for the fans, and after doors opened, had the chance to chat with fans, take more pictures and even got interviewed by a local podcast on my thoughts of the pop-up store.

There's quite a bit of stuff to see at the store but here's just a sampling of what you can expect to see:

1. An actual cannon the band used for their 1991 Monsters Of Rock festival performance. This was just inside the doors when you walked in with a plaque explaining its significance.

2. A 10' high AC/DC logo neon that fans could take photos in front of, but it was so incredibly bright and red that you almost couldn't make out a person in front of it. (See my photos with it below)

3. A mannequin dressed with one of Angus Young's schoolboy stage outfits. You could post a picture with it and tag the pop-up store for a chance to win a Limited Edition Box Set (only 500 available) containing a 1976 photo of Angus taken in London and signed by the photographer Chris Chapstick, a ceramic pencil pot, AC/DC logo pencils, a PWRUP leather notebook with printed pages, a cap with an 'A' patch on it and an embroidered 'A' with horns iron patch.

4. A mini stage setup with one of Angus' signature Gibson SG guitars that you could have a photo taken with while holding it or posing. Angus himself is going to autograph the guitar at tour's end in Philadelphia and there was also a QR code at the display where you could enter to win it.

5. A replica (or maybe an actual used one) Hell's Bell prop used during their shows' performance of the song "Hell's Bells".

6. A display and accompanying video of a special hand-designed Angus Young portrait that was used as the basis of a T-shirt that was only available at the pop-up stores.

Then of course there's the merchandise....

There was a vast array of items available, a good portion of which you could not get at the venue, including but not limited to posters (including limited edition city-specific ones designed especially for each tour stop), magnets, trading cards, hats, mini-helmets, an AC/DC Monopoly game, mini bobbleheads, keychains, pins, souvenir cups (which could be purchased at the bar), 17 different AC/DC vinyl albums and flashing AC/DC devil horns. I tell you, they could give KISS a run for their money as far as the variety of merchandise that was available. Though I was not there on the day of the show, they also had the city-specific tour shirts available

This was my very first time experiencing a pop-up store and will certainly do so again in the future. It's absolutely free to enter and the experience itself is something you have to see to believe.

There's still a handful of tour dates left so if you're in one of those cities make sure you plan to check this out!

A heartfelt thanks for the personal tour and to the professional, friendly staff of Henke & Pillot, especially Jamie who took the photos of me.

The only thing that would have made this even more exciting is if their PR/Label person understood who KNAC is and approved me to shoot the actual concert.