Even prior to the recent financial and economic slowdown many enterprises had adopted Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategies to improve their relationships with customers, who are becoming more and more sensible to ethical values. Recently, companies are increasingly promoting social innovation through collaborative initiatives among business, non-profit organizations (NPO) and public institutions for improving CSR implementation strategies. Often, innovation stems from this new trend based on the cross-fertilization between economic and social actors. This article investigates how large retailers are shaping new approaches where economic and social aspects become mutually supportive to enhance their impact on local communities. The cases of ‘solidarity stores’ in France is an example of emerging innovation through contamination.