On 4 October at the Retail Annual Congress, the winner of the Retail Deed of the Year 2023 will be revealed.
This year, the jury also chose winners in five sub-categories: development project, cooperation project, technical innovation, new concept and future-oriented solution. From among the winners of all the categories, the overall winner — and, for the first time, the audience favourite — will be chosen at the Retail Annual Congress! Below are the finalists who won each category. The Retail Deed of the Year competition received 20 nominations, from which a 20-member jury selected the best.
BENU pharmacy / Grab2Go
Best technological innovation in retail: "Europe's first self-service pharmacy"
In cooperation between BENU pharmacy and Grab2Go, an Estonian start-up automating and digitalising retail, the first self-service pharmacy opened this spring at Rapla Prisma. It is simple and convenient to use. The customer can pick the product they need on the screen, consult an online pharmacist via video link, and then pay for the goods. A robot puts the order together and dispenses the product automatically.
In the longer term, the goal of self-service pharmacies is to improve immediate access to medicines and other key pharmacy products for Estonian residents. Remote service would also make it possible to offer significantly longer opening hours than at a regular pharmacy and to ensure access to medicines and other pharmacy products in rural areas, where finding qualified staff is often difficult and regular pharmacies are therefore being closed.
Kurna Retail Park
Best new concept in retail
Kurna Park — new in Estonia, but already familiar elsewhere
Opened in August on the Tallinn ring road next to the IKEA store, Kurna Park is a new kind of shopping destination in Estonia, built on the retail park concept that originated in the United States and has spread rapidly across Europe in recent years.
Kurna Park has already become very popular among Estonian shoppers, thanks both to its stores and to the concept itself: every store is accessible directly from the car park and located at street level, so the shopper can go straight to the store of their choice. Special attention has also been paid to people with disabilities — specially marked parking spaces for them are available in front of every entrance.
Kurna Park has 15 stores in total. Its anchor tenants are Decathlon — with its flagship store and first store in Estonia — and a Selver hypermarket.
The architecture of Kurna Park was designed by the UK architecture firm TP Bennett together with Arhitektuurinurk OÜ and architect Veiko Tein from Estonia.
Maxima Eesti OÜ
Best development project in retail: "Friends with Estonian at Maxima!"
Maxima's goal is to provide the best possible shopping experience for all of its customers. Every day, 140,000 customers from different cultural backgrounds and nationalities, speaking various native languages, visit our stores. Maxima has often been singled out in Estonian public discussion as a place where Estonian-language service has needed improvement.
Among our 3,500 employees, there are some whose Estonian skills need development, for various reasons. There are many people in Estonia who, in 30 years, have not learned the state language. At the same time, 12% of our employees are war refugees from Ukraine who also want to learn Estonian.
We rolled out a comprehensive language learning programme at Maxima's office and stores — language testing, various self-study materials, training sessions, workbooks for the appropriate language levels, mentoring, language cafés and more. Over 600 Maxima employees are taking part in the language learning programme and getting the chance to improve their Estonian. Because the language issue is important to us, we also decided to discuss it openly with the wider audience, to clarify where the line lies between private-sector and state responsibility for our people's language skills. We therefore raised the question of the Estonian language at the Opinion Festival in summer, where we were joined by Mr Ilmar Tomusk from the Language Board, Maxima's managing director Kristina Mustonen and Anne Endjärv from the Ministry of Education and Research.
Selver AS
Best cooperation project in retail: "Issuing ID cards and passports in stores"
The aim of the project is to give people a convenient way to collect their documents. The Police and Border Guard Board (PPA) was looking for a service partner with a dense network across Estonia and longer daily opening hours than the PPA's own service points. The role of the project's most important partner, Hansab, is to coordinate the project together with the PPA and to be responsible for the hardware, software and security solutions in line with the requirements set out. Selver, working with its partners, has prepared several hundred of its employees to carry out the procedures in compliance with strict security requirements.
With this project, the PPA has taken a significant step in entrusting the provision of an important service to the private sector under the Administrative Cooperation Act.
Our customers have welcomed the service. Documents are now issued at 42 Selver and Delice Solaris stores.
Viru Keskus AS
Best future-oriented solution in retail: "Conceptual renewal of the centre"
Viru Centre's transformation from a classic fashion-focused mall into a modern, fully functional city heart
Viru Centre underwent the biggest refresh in its history — 90% of the centre's space was thoroughly renovated and 86 new or renewed stores opened their doors. The classic retail offering is complemented by the unique Food Street and the beauty and health services concentrated on an entire dedicated floor, the Beauty Sphere (Ilusfäär).
Guided by sustainability principles, the renovation involved a tenant-led review of the centre's overall concept to create a modern customer journey. As a result, in addition to fresh content, energy and a new spatial experience, Viru Centre also offers visitors a more thoughtful and varied selection of services, stores and concepts.
The renewed centre can best be judged by its visitors, and positive feedback speaks for itself, both in words and in retailers' sales figures.