Norwegian Wood

GlobalShop was “cozy” this year, clearly a victim of tight money, budget cuts and travel restrictions. And yet, many people I spoke to can’t wait for next year’s EuroShop.

“I always find something new at EuroShop,” one industry source recently told me. “I figure if I can see three new things, I’ve paid for the trip. And I almost always find five or six or more new things.”

Why is that? Here’s my opinion, and it’s not that the European economy is healthier or the European retailers are more active or the European manufacturers are more creative. Nor is it because EuroShop is every three years, whereas GlobalShop has always been an annual event. (In the ’90s, when we all brimmed over with optimism, GlobalShop never failed to fill its halls.)

No, it’s in the wood! Or, more accurately, in the lack of wood.

Years ago, when the warm, residential feel was driving U.S. store interiors, hundreds of GlobalShop booths were filled with wood fixtures. Then I toured EuroShop for the first time, and saw practically no wood – because, I was told, Europe has very little available timber. So European manufacturers – forced to use metal, plastic and aluminum – resorted to what they do best: engineering. Everything was well-constructed and tight. And the puck systems, cable systems and shelving systems were, at that time, brilliantly innovative.

It’s not that North American manufacturers aren’t inventive. It’s that they never had to be. They never had to deal with scarcities, like timber – or energy. EuroShop’s lighting innovations were also way ahead of ours. They had to be. Europe recognized its energy problems long before we did. I first saw compact fluorescents at EuroShop. I also saw white LEDs there, while U.S. suppliers were still dazzling us with all the brilliant, eye-catching color-changing properties.

When U.S. supermarkets were trying to look like boutiques, European supermarkets were trying to look like better supermarkets. One of the most bustling, energetic EuroShop pavilions is always the one with the smart shelves, high-tech checkout systems, refrigeration, case lighting, digital signage and new kinds of carts.

The supermarket pavilion never generated much excitement for U.S. attendees, paling alongside the more exciting, sight-and-sound-filled booths of Rootstein, ALU and Umdasch. But which retail sector today is driving all the innovation?