Kowalski's: beyond boundaries

Store Equipment & Design, Jan, 2001 by Marilyn D. Cavicchia

Having placed three stores in pre-existing buildings, a forward-thinking retail family finally had a chance to build the store they had always dreamed of. The result? Lots of new ideas in an Old World setting.

When co-owners Jim and Mary Anne Kowalski were planning their newest Kowalski's Market, in St. Paul suburb Woodbury, Minn., they had this goal in mind: "We wanted to create a place that our family would like to shop," Mary Anne Kowalski says.

Because this store, which opened in August, is the first Kowalski's built from the ground up, the family had much more opportunity to create exactly the place they wanted, unhindered by pre-existing architecture. "At our other stores, we just did the decor packaging and we warmed them up and we gave them a flavor, a Kowalski's feel," says Bob Kowalski, director of marketing at St. Paul-based Kowalski's Markets Inc., and Jim Kowalski's brother. "But the actual basic structures were still pretty square and boxy. It limited us."

Stepping into the 48,000-square-foot store in Woodbury, one gets the sense that the people behind it--including Robert Gorski of Robert M. Gorski Designs, Eden Prairie, Minn.--have enjoyed barreling past previous limitations and conventions, such as the standard highly directed, right-to-left shopping pattern. "You come into this store and you see where you want to go and you think about what you need," Mary Anne Kowalski explains. "It's not a traditional maze, where we have to lead you through it and you have to pass through everything to get to certain places."

The shopping experience at Kowalski's begins not with a bombardment of product, but with a courtyard where shoppers can gather their thoughts--and also their coupons and their kids, Bob Kowalski adds. Directly ahead is produce, part of which is under a faux copper-finished stamped steel drop ceiling. (Had real copper been used, Gorski notes, "A lot of pennies would have gone into that ceiling.") Above produce is The Next Level--an education and wellness center--and Juut SalonSpa, a well-known local hair cuttery and pampering place.

The rest of the store unfolds mostly to the right and left of produce, with a cooking products area, a vitamin, herb and supplement department, and an Aveda natural cosmetics store behind it. Special care was taken to make sure neither the right nor the left got short shrift, to avoid a common supermarket problem: grouping all the lively departments together, creating what Mary Anne Kowalski calls "the fun side," and then letting the excitement level drop as the shopper turns the corner. Here, meat, seafood and floral and gifts are on the right, with the bakery, deli, gourmet cheese and three outside vendors--two local restaurants and a Starbucks--on the other side of the store.

And, because Mary Anne Kowalski finds it irritating when stores do aim for a less-directed shopping path but still force shoppers toward one spot to pay, there are three checkout lanes on the right side of the store to complement the five on the left.

Customers seem to have taken to the unusual layout. "With the sights and the sounds and the smells, the store just lends itself to being more of an experience than a chore," Gorski says. "One of the comments we've gotten back is that it's so pleasant to shop the store that it's really like you're browsing, and you don't mind taking the time to do that."

THE NEXT LEVEL

Kowalski's has always been a full-service retailer with a health and wellness bent--besides the natural health department, there are many natural products mixed into the grocery selection and marked with a green ribbon sign--so with the new opportunity of a second story, the family wanted to go beyond the traditional mezzanine offering of cooking classes. Besides, Mary Anne Kowalski says, retailers seem to have trouble making much money with cooking classes alone. During a year's worth of meetings with Woodbury residents, the Kowalskis saw there was a lot of potential in also offering yoga, stress management and other "lifestyle" type classes and discussion groups.

The result is The Next Level, a flexible space that accommodates everything from "Beautiful Desserts III" to "Intro to Feng Shui." Class fees for Fall/Winter 2000 ranged from $20 for "Food and Mood" to $125 for "Stress Self Defense: T'ai Chi and Tea." Feng shul and t'ai chi have been the most popular classes, Mary Anne Kowalski says; baby massage is also a hit.

As for the hair salon-in-a-supermarket idea, she says there was some initial resistance: "When I'm going to the spa I look so bad," some women said. "And then I'll see all my neighbors in the store." But, persuaded by Juut's reputation and the convenience factor, customers have been flocking to the salon, upstairs and behind The Next Level.

DEMONSTRATION COOKING

The upstairs cooking classes aren't the only place to see a chef in action. Another new idea at this store is the Chef's Block, a semicircular demonstration cooking area in the meat department. Each weeknight and twice on weekend days, a chef cooks up something tasty from the meat department, offers recipes and answers customers' questions about food preparation. To add a little more excitement, each Monday Kowalski's invites in a restaurant chef to demonstrate his or her own specialties.