This year, four bold innovative retail concepts, SmÄak Natural Food, CAVAL, la Fédération Française de l’Apéritif and Waekura, were rewarded during the annual Grand Finale ceremony of the Grand Prix Commerce Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield.

Since its creation in 2007, the Grand Prix Commerce Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield has been supporting innovation by giving promising concepts the opportunity to develop in the Group’s shopping destinations. 37 start-ups have already been rewarded, among which Lunettes pour Tous, Tediber, Persillé, Laboté, Rice Trotters, Liife, Faguo, Jimmy Fairly, Marlette, Canard Street and also the 2018 winners: Mersea, Freddy’s BBQ, BMK Paris-Bamako and Les Raffineurs.

This year: not 3, but 4 winners were rewarded!

Earlier this year, 125 files had been studied after a call for applications, and in the end 16 semi-finalists had been selected.

Then, among them, 8 finalists – chosen by the jury, the Group’s employees and the public – were announced last June. The finalists benefited from a tailor-made support to get ready for the grand finale. Experts helped them for all aspects of their business: from creating their file to the pitch: finance, marketing, design, management, legal, public speaking.

For its 13th edition, four concepts won the votes of the jury, co-chaired by Christophe Cuvillier (Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield CEO) and Mercedes Erra (BETC founder). A total grant of 1.5 M€ will finance their openings in one of the Group’s shopping centres in France.

• The Grand Prix Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield was given to 2 concepts : SmÄak Natural Food, « fast casual » Scandinavian-influenced food concept, and CAVAL, a brand of mismatched eco-friendly sneakers. This prize aims to reward retail concepts that are ready to open a store in a shopping centre. Each concept earned a grant of 500,000 €.
• The Prix Boutique (« Store Prize ») was attributed to Fédération Française de l’Apéritif, a place where consumers can taste local food products for aperitif time, and Waekura, an affordable jewelry brand. Both of the concepts earned a grant of 250,000 € to open a store in one the Group’s centres.