Canadian Retailer - Spring 2015 - 27

at McMillan Doolittle. "What they've done is taken
something all supermarkets do and reimagined it
around one purpose."
One of the aspects of the shopping experience that
makes Bilder & De Clercq innovative is the way the
retailer broke down barriers to shopping: the store
put all the ingredients needed for a single dish in
one place. This simple innovation removed the time
barrier by eliminating the need to travel the store to
gather all the ingredients for that night's dinner.
"They made it easier to assemble a meal and
stripped away waste-if you only need a quarter cup
of onion, that's all you have to buy," says Stern.

something new," he says. "They're not constrained
by conventional thinking about what a grocery
store is supposed to be." Instead, "they recognized
something different that can be assembled by taking
things already out there."
Consumers have responded positively to Bilder &
De Clercq in Amsterdam and online, where customer reviews can go a long way to building a retailer's
reputation. On Yelp, one customer writes: "I made a
few dishes and they were really very simple and delicious. And I have to admit they were dishes I never
really thought about making before and were a hit!
It's great to throw in new dishes into your routine and
this store makes it easy to learn."
Another customer speaks specifically to the problem the store was
trying to solve-how to give customers quick, easy and healthy recipes: "I think this concept works
great for people that want to learn
how to cook and don't know how
so much, or that are in a rush and
have an empty fridge and just
want to make something tasty
and easy."
tomorrow's challenges tomorrow

Growth is a challenge for every
retailer, despite its size or format. Leopold says his store is in a
growth phase right now, but mainFounders Rogier Leopold and Diederik van Gelder. taining the store's personality will
be difficult because the store is so
closely tied to the management of
the store's founders. "Two stores
isn't a challenge," he says, "but
any growth beyond two stores will
be hard because it will be difficult
- ROGIER LEOPOLD, Bilder & De Clercq
to keep our personality."
In no way, however, does this
mean that the store has stayed
bilder & de Clercq and eataly at store 2015
still. All of the recipes change
Canadian retailers will have a chance to learn about the retail concept of Bilder &
De Clercq, its vision and challenges, when its founders speak at STORE-Canada's
each week, and the store conRetail Conference in June. Joining Bilder & De Clercq on-stage will be Eataly,
stantly looks for other ways to ofan Italian grocer that has built a reputation for its food services and its artisanal
fer something new to its customexperience. When Eataly opened its first store in New York, the location did $85
ers. Recently, the store launched
million in the first year of business. To register for STORE 2015, or to find out more
information about the conference, visit www.storeconference.ca.
its own line of branded chocolate
along with fresh juices and superInnovative businesses don't have to invent some- foods-changes which Leopold hopes will help the
thing from scratch, say Stern. Apple didn't have to store distinguish itself from standard supermarkets
invent the MP3 player to create the revolutionary and give customers something to talk about.
iPod. All they had to do was innovate on the concept.
"People are always surprised when they come to our
That's what Bilder & De Clercq has done.
store," says Leopold, and he likes surprising custom"What they've done is taken something that al- ers-it is part of the store's secret to success. "We have
ready exists out there in some form and given it so much fun being here. Pleasure is our secret."

"Our customers come into our store without
any ideas for dinner. And we get inspired to
build dinner for those people."

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Canadian Retailer - Spring 2015

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