As part of our retail tours, the Lemens & Partners team observed two retail activations on the Champs-Élysées: PSG Café and the Wilson Tennis Garden pop-up, two sports brands that are building much more than just a product. The Champs-Élysées has always been a showcase. Sport is establishing itself there as a brand culture, a way of life and an experience in its own right.
PSG Café: when a football club becomes a home
Part of the PSG boutique on the Champs-Élysées, the PSG Café offers much more than just a coffee break. Cups emblazoned with the logo, branded glasses, madeleines in the club’s colours, drinks with evocative names (PSG Spritz, PSG Spirit) and a carefully selected Rwanda Women Coffee. To take away or enjoy on the premises, in a sleek, minimalist white space.
It is a branded café, designed for an international audience, catering to tourists as well as supporters. The MyParis loyalty programme extends the experience beyond a one-off visit: discounts, access to PSG TV, a gaming zone and family offers. In this way, the club is building a community, not just a customer base.
PSG no longer just sells shirts. It sells a Parisian lifestyle.
Wilson Tennis Garden: Roland-Garros comes to Galeries Lafayette on the Champs-Élysées
At the entrance to Galeries Lafayette on the Champs-Élysées, Wilson has set up its Tennis Garden. As soon as you enter, the floor transforms into a red clay court. A corridor lined with large black-and-white photographs of legendary tennis players leads to a green dome covered in ivy, at the heart of which the Wilson tennis clothing collection is on display.
This pop-up has been set up to coincide with the French Open, which took place from 24 May to 7 June. Wilson, the tournament’s official equipment supplier since 2020, is capitalising on the tournament’s momentum to establish itself in a new light: no longer simply as an equipment supplier, but as a style brand.
Wilson no longer sells just equipment. It sells the elegance of tennis.
What this tells us about the future of retail
PSG and Wilson are using sport as a starting point to build a brand universe that extends far beyond the original product.
Whether it’s coffee, fashion, lifestyle or community, sport has become one of the most powerful drivers of experiential retail. And the Champs-Élysées, with its constant flow of international visitors, is the ideal setting to demonstrate this.
Designing these spaces requires creative professionals capable of simultaneously considering brand identity, spatial design and the visitor’s emotional experience. These are the talents that Lemens & Partners helps to find every day.
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