“As an exception, NO shopping center was on the program for this 2-day study trip”, explained Roman Schwarzenecker, Partner at Standort + Markt and Secretary General of the Austrian Council of Shopping Centers (ACSC). “Our focus was clearly on entertainment and gastronomic concepts, which were presented to our 34-strong travel group.”
This decision has paid off in full: London kept what it promised. Learn more about the highlights of our trip:
Angel Central
Guided tour of the Angel Central Shopping Centre, a prime retail destination in Islington, London. It has been refurbished for €17.8 million to become one of the leading retail and leisure destinations in North London.
Learn more here
Visiting IAAPA Expo Europe
Trade fair with hundreds of exhibitors from the fields of leisure and innovation
Learn more here
Mercato Mayfair
Mercato Mayfair, is a cultural hub and sustainable community market in the regenerated St Mark’s on North Audley Street. Mercato Mayfair features bars, a grocery shop, two floors of worldwide cuisine, a rooftop terrace, a wine-vaulted cellar with a brewery and a community centre. The developer himself explained how he created a cultural hub and sustainable community market. The pictures of this unique project speak for themselves:
Exclusive Harrods tour
The group was allowed to visit the legendary department store “Harrods” on Brompton Roadvisit Harrods before opening time and learned how food can be presented in the most perfect way.
One of the other highlights was the first the visit of the first Moët & Chandon’s permanent space in Europe within the Harrods beauty halls which whichw as implemented with umdasch The Store Makers. Learn more here.
Shopping Safari with Ibrahim Ibrahim
Ibrahim Ibrahim, CEO of Portland Design, a world leader in strategic branding and retail design, guided us as a “London Local” to unknown and interesting places with trendy innovative shop concepts. Here are some of the highlights:
Coal Drops Yard is home to more than 50 stores and restaurants and its commercial success has been somewhat questionable, explained Ibrahim Ibrahim: “The 3 billion redevelopment of the area generated lower than expected footfall in its first year but this has picked up since the lifting of lockdown. The destination is firmly anchored with F&B whilst the public, traffic-free spaces push the destination beyond retail as a community and leisure hotspot for locals, students and visitors. In retail what’s interesting is that small businesses with niche consumer interests (e.g. plant shops, bespoke jewellers) attract more shoppers than well-known brands. The importance is placed on customer experience being the common thread running through every store.”
Ibrahim Ibrahim about Sandbox: “An immersive ‘social space’ with a robot bartender. The concept is centred around an interactive gaming space that boasts free-roam team games with full-on haptic suits. A futuristic lounge area provides a space where you can sit back and re-watch your gaming highlights, while enjoying drinks from the bar, courtesy of the UK’s first permanent robotic bartender.”
“This place is pure retail and food theatre”, said Ibrahim Ibrahim about the store Milk Train. “There will likely be queues for these ultra Instagrammable ice creams and deserts. The Covent Garden ice cream parlour is known not just for its inventive soft serve flavours but also for its lavish signature candy floss clouds, which turn a simple scoop into a work of art. There is a special seasonal menu and customers are invited to create their own unique ice cream and milkshakes blends using the flavours on offer.”
