General
Eyewear brand Ace & Tate has opened a store on Antwerp's luxury shopping street Schuttershofstraat. The interior has been decorated with recycled plastic waste, in an attempt to lower its carbon footprint.
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Fashion
Belgian fashion house Natan, led by designer Edouard Vermeulen, has just opened its first boutique in Paris. "I’ve never made crazy investments."
Food
Over the next two years, Mars Retail Group plans to open three new M&M’s candy stores, including one in Berlin. The flagship stores will have a "Wall of Chocolate", M&M’s walking around, and games.
Furniture
Ikea is building a new, green city store in Vienna: there will be no parking, but the seven-storey building will have green balustrades and roofs with no less than 160 trees.
Electronics
Soon the Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi, the fourth largest in the world, will open its first physical store in the Benelux. That first store will be in Rotterdam, according to published job offers.
Film producer Warner Bros. has announced it will open an official Wizarding World store, the very first in the world, in New York. The opening of the store that is focused on the universe of Harry Potter and its spin-offs, is expected to happen this summer - hoping to make the most of the high season.
Belgian supermarket chain Delhaize has opened a seventh store of its convenience formula Fresh Atelier, the fourth in Brussels. Soon, the third Antwerp store will also open its doors, at a prime location. The goal remains to have at least thirty stores by the end of the year.
For the first time in its history, Harrods will venture outside the United Kingdom. The British luxury department store is going to open a store in China, in an attempt to serve the country’s large and wealthy middle class.
Spanish sustainable fashion brand Ecoalf continues its expansion abroad: after its first foreign store opening in Berlin in 2017, it has now arrived in Amsterdam.
In Brussels, chocolate lovers can immerse themselves in the new Côte d'Or flagship store. And not only themselves: a large chocolate fountain in the shape of an elephant's head is displayed in the shop window.
Barely a week after launching a new concept store in Brussels, Carrefour Belgium is at it again with a new city centre concept. Carrefour City hopes to lure in urban customers with organic food, private labels, a sustainable setting and a Carrefour Café.
Early next year, French sporting goods retailer Decathlon will open its first store in Luxembourg. The chosen location is the capital's prestigious shopping centre Royal-Hamilius. It will be a tiny, premium city centre store that focuses on service.
Convenience store chain Carrefour Express has opened a pilot store in Brussels according to a new concept, which features fresh produce and organic food and tests the water for more 'blurring'.
Irish Primark has said it will expand to Slovakia in 2022, with a shop in the Eurovea shopping centre in the capital Bratislava. The Central European country will then become the fifteenth market for the fashion discounter.
Mud Jeans, a pioneer in the leasing of jeans, has opened its first physical store in the Netherlands. Customers can try on all of the jeans, but they can't buy them: if you want a pair of jeans, you'll get it sent to your home afterwards.
Ahold Delhaize is testing three stores with automatic checkout: after two pilot stores in the Netherlands, a completely contactless store is now also opening in Massachusetts. Customers can just take their groceries and walk out, the payment is done automatically.
