Penny Opens 'Pünti,' a DJ-Designed Club Supermarket in Hamburg
Penny has opened 'Penny Pünti,' a roughly 600 sqm Hamburg supermarket redesigned as an electro club by DJ and producer David Puentez — its second influencer-curated store in about seven weeks, after Frankfurt's 'Leylaland,' as personality retail moves from stunt to strategy.
A supermarket that looks like a club
On Monday 15 September, discount retailer Penny opened 'Penny Pünti' in Hamburg-Borgfelde. The roughly 600 sqm store has been restyled around DJ and music producer David Puentez — stage name 'Pünti' — with visual cues drawn from club and electronic dance music culture rather than the usual discounter aesthetic.
It is not a one-off. The launch follows Penny's Frankfurt collaboration 'Leylaland' by only about seven weeks, signalling a deliberate, repeatable format rather than a single publicity stunt.
Why Penny keeps doing this
Discounters compete on price, which makes brand differentiation genuinely hard. Handing a store's identity to an influencer imports a ready-made, highly engaged audience and gives younger shoppers a reason to visit — and to post. The store becomes both a shop and a piece of content.
Running a second edition so quickly suggests the first delivered on footfall, reach or both. Penny appears to be building 'personality retail' into an ongoing playbook it can roll from city to city with a rotating cast of creators.
Marketing Minute's read: the store as media channel
The strategic shift here is treating the physical store as an owned media channel. Instead of buying reach around a campaign, Penny is manufacturing reach inside its own four walls, then letting the creator's community distribute it. For a discounter, that is a far more efficient path to cultural relevance than a traditional ad flight.
The risk is dilution. If every retailer rents a creator and repaints a store, novelty fades and the tactic becomes table stakes. The winners will be those who tie the collaboration to something commercial — exclusive ranges, in-store events, loyalty sign-ups — rather than aesthetics alone.
What businesses should do now
If you run stores or venues, ask what your space could become in the hands of the right creator — and, crucially, what you want shoppers to do once the photos are taken. Match the creator's audience to your target shopper, not just their follower count, and build in a measurable action.
And treat these as formats, not one-offs. Penny's advantage is repeatability: a template it can restage cheaply. Design your version to be re-runnable so the second and third editions cost less and compound the learning.
Quick FAQ
What is Penny Pünti?
A roughly 600 sqm Penny supermarket in Hamburg-Borgfelde restyled as an electro club by DJ and producer David Puentez, Penny's second influencer-curated store.
How is it different from Leylaland?
Leylaland was Penny's earlier influencer store in Frankfurt. Pünti follows it by about seven weeks, showing Penny is turning personality retail into a repeatable format.
Why do discounters use influencer stores?
Price-led retailers struggle to differentiate, so borrowing a creator's engaged audience builds cultural relevance and footfall that traditional advertising delivers less efficiently.
Penny is treating its own store as a media channel, manufacturing reach inside its four walls and letting a creator's community distribute it. For a discounter that's smarter than another ad flight. The trap is aesthetics-only novelty — tie the collaboration to exclusive ranges or sign-ups, and design it to be re-run cheaply. — Daniel Nikolla, Founder of Merx Marketing
The store is becoming an owned media channel — pair creators with a measurable in-store action, match audience over follower count, and design the format to be re-runnable.
Would you hand a store's identity to an influencer? Tell us how you'd make personality retail pay back.
If you would like to know more about this topic, please contact us on danieln@merxmarketing.co.uk
Sources: HORIZONT, Campaign Germany, Lebensmittelzeitung, LZ Direkt, Penny.
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Written by Daniel Nikolla, Founder of Merx Marketing Ltd and Marketing Minute
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