First Store by ALEXA as Academy Edition will be open exclusively to students of this creative academy and it will take place at 12 locations in Germany, as well as in Vienna and Amsterdam. The competition will allow entrants to completely rethink the topic of retail, with the aim to promote innovative ideas and concepts in shopping centres. Everything and anything is on the cards; from the store to catering, service to event location. The competition will be hosted by the owner of the ALEXA, Union Investment, the centre’s operator, Sonae Sierra, and the marketing agency, Twenty One Media.
Oliver Hanna, Centre Manager and member of the First Store jury, explains, “in the retail sector we need to go new paths, identify our strengths and provide customers with what they are looking for. The ALEXA centre has always been innovative; and the creative, popular courses offered by the Deutsche POP academy have the finger on the pulse too. That’s why I’m so pleased to have our new cooperation partner on board and am so very excited to see what ideas the students come up with.”
The conduct of the competition
First Store by ALEXA is open to both solo and team entrants, and teams can transcend both courses and physical locations – in fact, to match the start-up mentality of the young generation, the idea is for everything to be as open, creative and innovative as possible. Throughout the creative process, the teams will be accompanied and supported by the initiators in regular online meetings.
Concepts will have to be submitted by the end of the winter semester in March 2021, after which a five-member jury will select the winners. The winning team will receive a budget totalling 40,000 Euro to implement its concept and present it for six weeks from June 2021in the First Store Cube at the ALEXA centre.
