EuroShop 2026, #AskLEAP and why we are going for our own benefit, and for our clients. Part One.
A conversation with Co Founder, Ben Holden and Client Director, Matt Hendry.
​
This February, on the 22nd to the 26th, four of us from LEAP are heading to EuroShop: Ben, Matt, Gaz, and Iain. If you’ve been before, you’ll know it’s a lot. If you haven’t… it’s still a lot.
​
Either way, we’re going with a clear intention: spend time in the halls, see what’s real, and help other people get value from the show too.
​
We sat down with Ben and Matt to talk through what EuroShop is, why LEAP is going, and how #Ask LEAP fits into all of it.
For anyone who’s never been, what is EuroShop?
​​
Matt:
​
" It’s the go-to exhibition for the stuff that makes retail happen. People talk about it like it’s one event, but it’s a whole world. You’ve got everything from the practical end of retail to the more creative end, and then all the pieces in between.
​
It’s materials, systems, fixtures, tech, the bits you see and the bits you don’t. You can walk a hall and feel like you’ve just seen the future, then walk into the next one and realise it’s still someone selling something as simple as a trolley."
​
Ben:
​
" And it’s once every three years, which is part of what makes it useful. Everyone turns up. It’s not just European either, despite the name. You’re meeting people from across Asia, North America, everywhere. It’s an industry gathering as much as it is an exhibition. "
Ben, you’ve been doing these for years. What keeps pulling you back?​​
​
Ben:
​
" I’ve done it consistently since 2001. It’s hard to say how many that is without embarrassing myself with maths, (or my age) but it’s a fair few.
​
The show’s a good meeting point. You see old friends, restart conversations that have been sat on the shelf, meet new people who are doing something interesting. It’s also a good temperature check. You can tell what everyone’s excited about, what everyone’s selling, and what the industry is pretending it has solved."
​
Matt:
" That’s the bit I like too, the reality check. You can get caught in a bubble when you’re deep in projects. EuroShop forces you to zoom out and see what’s happening outside your usual circle. "
This is LEAP’s first EuroShop as LEAP. What’s different about that?​
​
Matt:
​
" We’re not going under anyone else’s badge. That sounds like a small thing, but it changes how you move around the show and how you talk to people.
​
We’re not ‘boxed into one lane’. We can have a conversation with a retailer, then a supplier, then an agency, then someone with a new idea they’re trying to get off the ground. That flexibility is kind of the point."
​
Ben:
" We want to speak to everyone. A manufacturer, a material supplier, a retailer that’s been around forever, a brand taking its first steps into physical space. We’re there to have conversations that are actually useful. "
You’re not exhibiting this year. Why?​
​
Matt:
​
" Because you don’t see the show when you’ve got a stand. You’re stuck in one spot. You end up repeating yourself, and you learn very little because you’re not in the halls where the interesting stuff is.
​
If we’re travelling to a show like EuroShop, we want to be mobile. We want to “actually” experience it. We want to walk it properly, not just hear ourselves talk."
​
Ben:
" We’ve both exhibited before, and it’s a buzz, but you don’t take much away. This time we wanted a different approach. Something that benefits clients and the wider industry, not just us."
