Creating a Wonderful World
Born in Aarhus, Denmark’s second largest city, Søstrene Grene is a retail chain founded by parents Inger Grene and Knud Cresten Vaupell Olsen in 1973 when they opened a store that turned out to be one of a kind. In this interview, we speak with Mikkel Grene, Group CEO & Co-Owner of Søstrene Grene as we discuss the brand’s ongoing expansion, its digital transformation and sustainability agenda.
Owned today by Mikkel and his brother Cresten, the Creative Director, Søstrene Grene is perhaps best described as a lifestyle brand that offers products in a variety of categories such as home décor, small furniture, kitchen, hobby, celebrations, stationery, children’s toys, accessories and more.
They work consciously to continually create wonderful worlds unlike anything ever seen before. To do this, they focus on their concept, the retail experience they offer and their products. Each of these three dimensions needs to reflect their values and together they make up the unique world of the brand.
They also work very hard at making sure that no matter where in the world people visit a store; they will feel they are taking a little break from the often-hectic everyday life.
Today the company operates more than 340 stores across 17 European markets. These include their home country Denmark and England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland and the Faroe Islands.
“Back in March, we opened our second central London store on Argyll St. The store is spread across 441sq m, has two floors, is one of our flagship European sites and has an Experience Room, as well as being the only site in the UK to have a Sensory Room,” highlights Mikkel Grene, Group CEO & Co-Owner of Søstrene Grene.
Whilst London is of course a very important city, Grene sees huge potential across the UK where they are always warmly welcomed. They have also recently opened in Harrogate and back in July they opened stores in Wimbledon and at Canary Wharf.
Discussing the wider expansion plan, they are targeting 100 stores in total in the UK and 500 stores across Europe by the end of 2027. As part of this total, they will likely reach 100 stores in Germany alone this year. They have also announced plans to enter Italy and Poland, along with opening up online shopping in Spain and Finland.
When we probe on the topic of a positive guest experience inside and outside of their stores, humble is the first thing that comes to Grene’s mind. “We are very humble about the fact that many customers very much like our brand, our stores and our products. It is a great privilege but it also comes with a great responsibility to continue to meet our customers’ expectations and have them visit our stores repeatedly. It is not something we would ever take for granted.”
He adds to this by saying they aim to stay curious. They are curious about the markets they operate in, about how to optimise the spaces that they have and about digital transformation. Most importantly, they are curious about their customers and how they can offer them the best possible experience online and offline.
The company did not begin life in the online realm until 2020, but once they did, it allowed them to accelerate their digital transformation and the omni-channel offering as they look to meet their customers where they are, creating the best possible synergy across their channels and physical stores.
In terms of AI and its influence in the retail market, the company is focusing on integrating AI solutions as they see this as key in supporting their teams and processes in creating a more agile and scalable business.
As well as expanding their horizons in the digital department, they continue to invest heavily on their sustainability agenda. This has incorporated the phasing out of several single-use plastic items and will also phase out offerings in the future that do not fit their strategy to secure more circularity in their product range.
“In addition, we recently announced a 45,000sq m distribution centre in the Netherlands which will help meet our ambitions for the sustainability agenda. It will reduce the distance to our customers and stores in southern and central Europe. Moreover, the centre will be built as a state-of-the-art project for sustainable construction with its own solar panel systems and robotic technology that will wrap our online packages using as little packaging material as possible,” Grene comments.
Focusing on much more than just selling products at affordable prices, Søstrene Grene aspires to offer their customers a shopping experience that caters to their senses and offers them products that do not cost more than they need to. When a guest enters one of the stores, they are entering an immersive experience with their winding maze, the dark colours on the walls and the classical music.
Grene believes it is this concept and experience that sets the brand apart as well as making sure that the online and offlineexperience mirror each other. “But we of course would not be able to exist without our product range focusing on Nordic design tradition and most importantly our millions of loyal customers across Europe.”
Asking Grene about the future and the challenges ahead, he explains that despite ongoing economic headwinds, they continue to see strong footfall and engagement across their stores. The brand believes in the long-term relevance of physical retail – especially when it offers discovery, inspiration and emotional connection.
“I believe that the retailers who will be most successful in the future are the ones that will succeed in adapting to the current situation and the consumers’ needs, but at the same time will not be afraid to invest and renew themselves even in uncertain times,” Grene explains.
“This why we work so much on creating this unique store experience and special Søstrene Grene world that we want to offer our customers. I believe this is key in securing the most important thing – our customers visiting our stores again and again.”
