Paris, France. The city of love, the city of lights, the city of fashion. Whatever you call it… you are probably right. Paris est magnifique!

However, very few talk about the retail in Paris. By retail, I do not necessarily mean the top notch Champs-Élysées fashion windows, but rather the great merchandising and retail practices you meet in many shops in the French capital. If you work in retail, you would better take a closer look at Paris, since things there are getting vibrant.

What captured my attention? Chocolatiers that resembled jewelry stores with their products presented in the same way as solitaire rings are, stores that let you personalize the items you bought on the spot, sport apparel stores that organize vintage market days where you can play retro videogames, eat hot dogs and have instant tattoos while getting yourself a classic pair of sneakers.

The ways each retailer has done it are various, but one thing is common. The French have well understood that physical stores are no more merely arrays of shelves and products in order. They have realized that a physical store is a place that the brand lives, a place where customers’ expression is free and a place where you can interact with the brand. This way you create strong memory points with the brand and eventually generate demand for the brand’s products.

While I was taking a walk in a quiet neighborhood, a concept store from home improvement and gardening retailer Leroy Merlin grabbed my attention. The name of the store is “Make It”. Compared to the typical Leroy Merlin store, this place is a corner neighborhood store of approximately 200 square meters. What can you do in there? Apart from buying timber or other DYI raw material, you can rent tools by the hour, and optionally receive the services of an expert that could guide you through the process of making your own ideas come true in the best possible way! Why did the multi thousand square meter format retail giant introduce a corner place like this in the market? The answer laid before my eyes. They wanted a creative human-scale space, where people would be inspired to make anything they dream of. During this process, the brand Leroy Merlin comes naturally; associating itself with the most vivid moments one can live while creating. For the people that will experience project “Make It”, Leroy Merlin will no longer be associated with basic needs coverage (such as the necessity to build something that works on a budget), but as the brand that breaks the barriers for creation and provides them the freedom to express themselves simply by…making it.

By introducing a project store like this, the retailer has provided the brand a space to express and the opportunity for its customers to experience it.

Where will you create the circumstances for your brand to live and breathe?