This isn’t your average souvenir shop. What to know about Universal’s Tribute Stores.

There’s a fan-favorite attraction at Universal Orlando Resort that first-time visitors might walk right past if they aren’t in the know.

Universal Studios Florida hosts a limited-time Tribute Store several times a year that’s more like a holiday pop-up bar or immersive art exhibit than a standard souvenir shop. The next one opens on Friday.

“We love when people come in thinking this is just a store and it's an experience,” said Rob Cametti, senior director of Visual Merchandising and Store Design at Universal Orlando. “When we do the first day openings … people are lining up by the hundreds to come and shop.”

Here’s why:

What is a Tribute Store?

A Tribute Store is a pop-up store, but the level of theming is more like what you’d expect on theme park rides. Each iteration has a unique storyline fleshed out with movie-quality props, photo-ops, and hidden Easter eggs.

“It's experiential retail, and you have to come in to experience it,” Cametti said.

Three times a year, the theme aligns with the resort’s marquee events: Mardi Gras, Halloween Horror Nights, and holidays. This year's Mardi Gras Tribute Store was set as an ill-fated riverboat cruise down the Mississippi River. Summer Tribute Stores can tie into other things at the Florida resort, like Jurassic Park’s 30th anniversary celebration last summer.

“A casual observer is going to be like, ‘Wow, this looks great. A lot of great detail. It's a great environment,’ ”Cametti said. “But then the fans of Tribute Stores, they're going to take their time going through, and they're going to look at all the extra details.”

It’s an entirely foreign experience for many guests, but Cametti noted that the concept isn’t new.  “(It’s) basically what old school visual merchandising used to be, but just on a completely different level.”

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What is the theme of the Summer Tribute Store?

This summer’s Tribute Store will pay homage to some of the iconic blockbusters guests can experience in new ways this summer, with the opening of DreamWorks Land, debut of the new fountain and drone show CineSational: A Symphonic Spectacular and more.

“This year’s Summer Tribute Store will transport guests to ‘The Tribute Store Plaza’ – a 1980’s shopping mall featuring three highly immersive ‘mega’ rooms – the nostalgic Mega Video Rental video store, a retro Mega Castle Arcade and the majestic Tribute Theatre,” Universal Orlando said in a press release Wednesday. “As guests explore the shop, they’ll discover various photo opportunities and countless Easter eggs inspired by familiar characters and moments from each of the films.”

Those films include “Back to the Future,” “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial,” “Ghostbusters,” “Jaws” and “Shrek.”

What is the history of the Universal Tribute Store?

The very first Tribute Store, in 2015, wasn’t called a Tribute Store.

“Basically, we were asked to do a Halloween Horror Nights store that encompassed all of the merchandise in one spot,” Cametti said. “Before then, it was kind of spread out throughout the park.”

His team was given the former Twister store as a venue, which he joked was a perfect storm.

“The catch was, back then, our merchandise assortment was not nearly as large as what it is today, so great, you gave us the whole store, but now you’ve got to fill it,” he said. “So we partnered with Entertainment and Marketing, and we started actually going around and knocking on doors to see who had props and decor from past Horror Nights, and we made this tribute to Horror Nights.”

They filled it with props and memorabilia, adding a hearse in the middle that helped take up space and serve as a photo opp.

“It did amazing,“ Cametti said. “The next year, they said, ‘Let's do it again.’ ”

In 2016, the Halloween Horror Nights Tribute Store debuted in the former extended queue space for Revenge of the Mummy.

“From there it continued to grow, to where we started to think, ‘OK, is it just Halloween Horror Nights that we can be doing this? Let's test a Mardi Gras version and a Christmas version,’ ” he said. “And it's turned into a year-round rotating concept that, as long as people are happy with it and they keep letting us do it, we'll keep doing it.”

Who creates the Tribute Store?

Universal’s Visual Merchandising and Store Design team members spend months developing each Tribute Store.

“Each time we do one, we're trying to do something different and new,” Cametti said.

Sometimes, they repurpose existing props.

“Sharp-eyed guests will pick up, ‘Oh, that was an HHN one.’ We may repaint it, we may turn it upside down or flip it around, but we love to be able to reuse things over time,” he said. “Other times, we build. The team we have is built up of craftsmen, graphic artists, scenic painters, and it was very strategic over the last 10 years or so as we saw a need for a certain skill set, that's what we went after.”

Each Tribute Store is only open for a few months. With all the passion poured into each one, Cametti said it can be heartbreaking to close shop.

“Last year was the first year that we were afforded the opportunity to not stop when we were supposed to,” he said. “Jurassic Park 30th was supposed to stop on a certain date, and guests, we're having so much fun with it, we were able to … keep it going.”

Where is the Halloween Horror Nights Tribute Store?

The HHN Tribute Store is typically located between Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon and Revenge of the Mummy, in the New York area of Universal Studios Florida.

Other Tribute Stores have the option of an alternate space, between Schwab’s Pharmacy and Mel’s Drive-In in the Hollywood section of the park. The Summer Tribute Store will be located in the Hollywood section.

“We can bounce back and forth a little bit now, and so we're able to have a little bit of that flexibility,” Cametti said.

Year-round, guests can also get a taste of the Tribute Store concept at All Hallow’s Eve Boutique, a smaller, offshoot at Universal Islands of Adventure. All Hallows Eve is always Halloween-themed, but it gets seasonal overlays throughout the year.

“I can mix Halloween with anything – Christmas, Thanksgiving, Labor Day. I can mix Halloween with all of that,” Cametti said.

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Does Universal Studios Hollywood have a Tribute Store?

No. Universal Studios Hollywood has themed retail locations but not Tribute Stores.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Universal Tribute Stores are their own type of attraction