With a mix of legacy brands and high street mainstays, our destinations are an ideal space for young, up-and-coming companies to make their debut. Last year, our teams in the UK, France and Spain celebrated the innovative ideas and fresh concepts of newcomers to the retail industries

The 14th French edition of the Grand Prix Commerce URW

The Grand Prix Commerce is an annual prize that highlights great retail innovations and helps to support new French store concepts. Adding to a growing list of companies that have found success thanks to the Grand Prix Commerce, three new winners were announced in 2021, during a special awards ceremony broadcast on BSMART.

Solid beauty and hygiene product manufacturer Unbottled was awarded the Grand Prize, including a grant of €1,000,000 to finance its lease in a URW destination in France. Public favourite Deliroutine, an urban food market concept that includes a live kitchen, also walked away with the Shop Prize of €400,000 to finance their lease in one of the Group’s centres in France, and Pop-up Prize winner The Blond Cactus (selling dried flowers and self-sufficient plants) won a €100,000 grant for the launch of its business model.

Spain brings in Gran Premio Retail for a second year

In Barcelona, the final gala night of the second edition of URW Spain’s Gran Premio Retail was an evening of suspense and celebration. Winners were:

• Travel-fashion brand Tropic Feel
• Community-oriented coffeeshop The Good News
• And coconut-themed natural food vendor Coco House

The stellar line-ups for each competition made our jury’s decisions particularly difficult. We look forward to continuing to be a part of our winning brands’ stories and wish all entrants the best for the next steps in their entrepreneurial journeys!

Westfield celebrates London’s side hustle heroes

To support the UK capital’s creative minds who thrived through the pandemic, Westfield London and Westfield Stratford City hosted some new social media brands. All had started as social network side hustles in 2020 but now had the opportunity to branch out into brick and mortar, thanks to our URW London team.

Over 85,000 online businesses have been created since the start of the pandemic* and nearly three quarters (74%) of consumers say they want to see retailers adapt to their local areas. So, Westfield brought the online offline to provide shoppers with a one-of-a-kind experience that celebrated London’s Side-Hustle Heroes. The partnership gave these brands invaluable large-scale presence in prominent retail space at Europe’s two largest shopping centres, which attracted 1.2 million visitors in their retail reopening week.

Brands included:

• Self-care subscription box company Tingle
• Sustainable paint brand Pickleson Paint Co.
• Dried flower and homeware boutique Three Sisters Farm
• Hand-dipped candle brand Fairholme Studio
• Bespoke tie-dye fashion label Ava May
• Contemporary home goods brand MH Living

^*Growth Intelligence research, 2020

The Start-Up Village at Westfield Donau Zentrum

To encourage start-up culture and foster innovation, Westfield Donau Zentrum launched a local start-up village - an opportunity for local, sustainable start-ups to present and sell their products to visitors. In addition, it strengthened the centre’s & Westfield’s brands through cooperation with Puls4 – a national broadcast station – and their weekly show. Four start-ups have had the opportunity to present their offer: Damn Plastic – the crazy plastic-free shop, Ecolodge – home of green fashion, Xunt – fashionable stockings, and Circly – skincare, loved by nature.

Westfield Donau Zentrum provided sustainable start-ups with a space to launch their brands towards a broader audience.