Retail therapy
Megan Murray investigates how community and collaboration rather than competition are now at the heart of our hippest high streets

We don’t need stats and forecasts to tell you what you already know. Take a walk into your local town and you’ll see that high streets are changing. While the scene varies depending on where in the world you are — we know that ecommerce platforms hold huge sway and nowadays, you’re more likely to click next day delivery for a last-minute festive gift, than embark on a hectic dash the week of Christmas.
But change doesn’t have to be a bad thing. Once, the high street was ruled by sprawling chains and if soulless shopping experiences are out, what’s in? Retail therapy led by connection and community, that’s what. Just as the Internet has transformed how we shop, social media has also encouraged us to engage with both big brands and small businesses in a more community-focused way, something that’s leaking into towns and cities everywhere. For example, household names of the fashion world like Sweaty Betty and Ganni have adapted quickly to this change of tone. Sweaty Betty started in London back in 1998, and now boasts over 150 stores across Europe, the US, Canada and Asia. Despite having a 25-year legacy, the brand’s community-focused strategy is on-the-pulse, utilising both in-person and digital connections with customers. Take this summer, when Sweaty Betty’s social team jumped on the hashtag #wearthedamnshorts, encouraging customers to be body confident by sharing images of themselves enjoying summer, and even enlisting the help of poet Sophia Thakur who created a spoken word piece on eschewing beauty standards. While, at your local Sweaty Betty store you can be part of campaigns like this in person with regular run clubs which bring people together and hammer home the brand’s motto of empowering women through sport. Widely shared on social media, these run clubs give the stores a deeper purpose, making them a centrepoint for friendships, charity events and sporting competitions.


Ganni is the brand of the moment, run by Danish couple Ditte and Nicolaj Reffstrup in Copenhagen, and serves as another example of how big businesses are using real connections with their customers to power sales, reputation and image. The brand’s Instagram bio reads ‘Confidence, Community, Responsibility’ making it clear from the offset how important its #GanniGirls network is, which is brought to life with regular in-store events. Friends of the brand are often invited to host their own shopping events which act as a networking opportunity for local creatives, while on a casual Saturday in stores across Hamburg, Copenhagen, Berlin, Amsterdam and further afield, you’ll find glasses of fizz and nibbles laid out for customers, to bring a relaxed, welcoming vibe. New stores are also designed to reflect the city’s creatives, for example, in the Hamburg store, cushions from local homeware brand Studio Paul & Toni adorn the sofa, while in Paris, artist Desire Moheb-Zandi created wall tapestries for the opening of the Marais branch, and in Saint-Honoré, Parisian artist Enfant Précoce painted a mural. Working with the city’s creative landscape instead of pushing against, is a marker of the attitude transforming our retail spaces and the kind of experience you can not only expect, but that customers actively seek.


While this is encouraging, for multi-million-dollar-strong brands, a strategy based around community is just that — a strategy. If you really want to see a changing attitude to how retail spaces are being realised, it’s the small makers, indie designers and specialty businesses that show the strength of how personal relationships and shared interests can change our high streets for good. Where huge chains used to rule supreme, online tools like social media have also empowered small makers to start their own businesses easily and connect to their customer bases through the likes of Instagram and TikTok. So, where does that leave the high street? With more small brands than ever before, business owners are keen to connect with other entrepreneurs, customers and local communities, but in a fresh, modern way, rooted in experience.
Take Softcover in Vienna; this stand-alone magazine store was founded by Sebastian Gansrigler in December 2023, and instead of adapting a strategy to fit a community-minded customer, the store was borne from the burgeoning network he’d spent years building. Selling speciality photography and art books, it would be easy to imagine that niche art-focused concepts could find it hard to survive, but Sebastian says that events and in-person interactions are the backbone of his business.


“The idea for Softcover grew organically. In 2018 I founded a photography magazine called Auslöser (meaning shutter release) and in 2019, I co-produced a photography festival called OFF GRID. Through these ventures interest grew and it became clear I needed a physical space,” he explains. Sebastian began with pop-ups in Vienna, Graz and Munich, and after receiving encouraging feedback, launched his own store which he always intended to be a hub for like-minded people. “From the beginning, hosting events was an important part of the concept to not only build community and connect people, but support Vienna’s publishing scene. I didn’t like the idea of having ‘just’ a store. It had to be more than that. I see Softcover as a place to find new inspiration, new ideas, to connect and to support each other. I think because a book or a magazine is such a physical object, people want to have a physical connection and see them in real life.”
Less than a year in, and Sebastian says the reality is just as good as he’d imagined. “So far, on average I’ve hosted an event a week since we opened — from bookbinding workshops to magazine release parties and signings,” he smiles. Giving context, he continues, “A more intimate gathering like a reading will usually attract 20 to 40 people, while the magazine parties are more like 100 to 150. I continue to get so many requests from customers about upcoming events, as well as other entrepreneurs about working together, planning collaborations and pop-ups in other retail spaces around the city. The whole experience has helped me get in touch with a breadth of small businesses in Vienna and share ideas as well as physical spaces, challenging a traditional view of what being a shop keeper looks like.”
Similarly, Hamburg’s artsy quarter of Karoviertel has gained its reputation from the continuous influx of small businesses, many of whom want you to do more than just shop with them. Take Glashuettenstrasse, one of the main veins running through the area, packed with stores offering a chance to be part of their curated worlds. There’s concept store, Human Nest, which is not only filled with consciously-minded brands but founder Emilia Schattanik also recently trained as a life coach and is inspired to use her space as a way to bring women together over intimate round tables in the store, anchored on topics around life, motherhood and career. Across the road, independent knitwear brand faible & failure is owned by Isabelle Mann, and after five years has become a stalwart of the neighbourhood’s creative scene hosting regular pop-ups, collaborations and workshops in her store. “I think the first thing I learned is that a healthy business needs a network that feels genuine and is built on real connections. So, I always wanted to create a little world that people could come and be part of - both B2B and customers,” Isabelle says. “When I moved to Hamburg and opened my store, I actually hadn’t made many friends yet myself, so starting my Thursday night knit club was a way to meet new people, but also keep the craft alive and give something back to the knitting community. Knit club will always be free - it’s a place people can come and help each other, share their projects and often the expertise levels vary widely, so everyone pitches in and shows a new-comer how to get the hang of things.”


But, while it’s amazing that small businesses are making the most of retail spaces as places for connection, there’s also a crowning trend for changing the purpose of old stores and forgotten shops, altogether. Meet URBANAUTS, a travel company based across France, Austria and Germany that specialises in bringing new life to former business premises, turning them into modern, flexible hotels and studios. The idea started in Vienna where the founders identified that ground floor retail spaces were being left vacant for longer and longer, but could only be used for commercial purposes, which extends to hotels. By creating a network of self-check in pods, URBANAUTS organises its stays by neighbourhood, simultaneously taking over former shops all over the city. “Each room or suite has its own story,” says Fabian Feldtmann, Head of Marketing. “At Grätzlhotel in Vienna, you might be staying in a former cobblers, milliners or lamp makers. We believe there are enough existing small, beautiful spaces, so why should we always build new hotels, if you can create a unique experience and a sense of authenticity?”

Not only does this business model make the most of left over space, but it focuses on that word again: community. As boutiques can be found in the heart of neighbourhoods, on winding streets surrounded by other stores, but also cafes, restaurants and bars, URBANAUTS chooses not to provide a lobby and instead connects with these existing local businesses, advising guests on where to go for their morning coffee and calling this partnership ‘Fellows’. This idea actually drives the local economy, instead of taking away from it. And, if URBANAUTS is determined to fill old retail spaces with people enjoying the city, The Gate in Berlin aims to do the same, but with new businesses that can rebuild it. This co-working concept has slowly taken over Torstrasse, a busy street in central Berlin, to create a ‘village in the metropolis’ for their entrepreneurs. Kristin Rieve, CEO of The Gate explains, “We secured a few leases on Torstrasse before the pandemic and afterwards so many of the stores had to close that we were able to keep the street alive by opening offices, meeting spaces and even a small hotel. We’ve found that there’s so much to be done with traditional retail space because we have the means to be flexible.
The Power of the pop-up
When speaking about new businesses and creative concepts, there’s a word that keeps coming up again and again. Or, should we say, popping up? Just 10 years ago, the notion of a pop-up was relatively unheard of, but today it’s one of the driving forces helping small businesses get on the map. Of course, pop-ups are popular with big brands too, but while the likes of Highsnobiety installing temporary rails of Balenciaga and Bottega Veneta in Zurich airport is more about sales, for young brands a pop-up is about connection — to their community, to other makers and to customers. But, what’s all the buzz about? If you don’t know much about this world, it can sound like a lot of work to erect and decorate a space, fill it with products and organise events, sometimes just for a weekend. But, the benefits of pop-ups are tenfold. First, less commitment empowers innovation, meaning business owners can try new concepts and test out products with less pressure, while lower barriers on time and price also attract those locally and help build that sense of community. We know now that modern consumers are focused on experiences, so these fluid spaces also allow for a shopping experience that might include events, food and drinks, networking, music, games or all of it together!
Joachim Anton Klintfclt recently launched the art studio, Klintfält Studio, with his brother Mathias, producing large-scale paintings with bold, expressive designs. Still very much in its fledgling stages, Joachim says pop-ups are the way to go for their business for now. “I believe people buy from people,” he explains. “That’s why I think galleries, for example, aren’t suitable for us. We would rather show who we are and explain why we paint what we paint. One of the first big pop-up events we attended was the Finders Keepers market in Copenhagen which brings small businesses together a few times a year. This way, we can meet a wider audience with a more open-mind, and even find other brands to collaborate with or create future opportunities. Our long-term strategy is to get into places where people talk, connect, and spend time, like restaurants, wine bars and cafes for a more experience-led approach instead of a typical sales tactic.”


For small business owner Yvonne Lindhorst, who founded vintage styling company Morgens, in Hamburg last September, pop-ups have been essential to making her first year mark. “I love love love doing pop-ups! I believe we are stronger together and this first year feels defined by collaborations.” At first, while newly freelance and adjusting to leaving a traditional office environment, Yvonne tapped into other creatives as a way of benefitting her mental health. “It looks exciting on social media, but freelancing or running your own small business can be lonely. Creative people need each other, it’s our nature to share ideas: it doesn’t matter if they are a so-called competitor.” And, once the ideas are in motion, engaging with industry peers also means shared costs, contacts and reach — all of which help get those inaugural sales off the ground. “It’s impossible to finance bringing these ideas to life alone. My network has been everything and not only does it mobilise the in-person parts of my business, it’s brought me personal joy.”
What makes Yvonne such a great voice on this topic is that in just a year, she’s racked up an impressive amount of physical pop-ups, across an interesting spectrum of events. For a whole month, she took over a clothing boutique in the creative quarter, while in the city centre, she held a three-day table at the entrance of & Other Stories. “Working with bigger brands is different, but why not enjoy the benefits of their budget and reach? For me, it’s interesting to put vintage pieces in this space, as it pushes the brand and their consumers to think about second-hand instead of always buying new.” Her favourite collaboration so far, though, has been working with Hannah Kleeberg of Berlin catering concept, Herrlich Studio, on workshops for artists at rural agriculture project, Gärtnerei Sannmann. “Hannah asked me to style the space, while she covered the food, and local businesses and cafes also contributed. The concept was to connect young artists and conceive new opportunities to the farm, culminating in a magical glasshouse dinner. It was insanely beautiful and fostered new connections for us all.”
