What's afoot?

Store Equipment & Design, Jan, 2000 by Ray Thompson Jr.

From beauty to safety and health, floors of the future will play a key role

The floors of tomorrow's supermarkets will incorporate design and color requirements with such considerations as safety, health and maintenance concerns, along with emerging issues such as static dissipative control, which is becoming increasingly important as stores install more sensitive electronic instrumentation.

SETTING THE MOOD

Design and color will help the consumer feel comfortable in the shopping environment. Color is used to create a subliminal message: A soft color palette helps put the customer in a relaxed mood for the buying experience. Floor color will continue to be used to support the employees' productivity and to distinguish departments from each other.

Supermarkets are evolving toward providing environments that support selling in interesting and entertaining ways, and flooring is becoming part of the fashion statement.

As supermarkets strive to set themselves apart from competitors by customizing departments and other areas, new technologies for cutting, designing and coloring of flooring materials will come into play. Cutting techniques using computer-assisted, water-jet, laser and ultrasonic cutting machine technology make it possible to precisely cut everything from sheet vinyl and linoleum to hard surfaces such as marble and ceramic. Flooring suppliers will be seeking to inject their own branding into the flooring process, using these technologies to imbed manufacturers' logos.

CUTTING OUT STATIC

As stores add more computers, scanners and electronic monitoring devices, static conductive or static dissipative flooring may become the norm. Computers and electronic instruments are very sensitive to static electricity, and a floor's ability to discharge static buildup will become an issue if stores are to protect their investment in electronic equipment.

SAFETY AND HEALTH

Ensuring the safety of both employees and customers is always a challenge for retailers, and choice of flooring plays a role in protecting against slip-and-fall litigation and in lowering insurance costs. Flooring manufacturers will continue developing new, more attractive products that answer the need for slip resistance; the challenge is to create products that can be cared for and keep their appearance while still maintaining slip-resistant qualities.

An additional challenge for manufacturers is to develop coverings that ward off the growth of bacteria and fungus. Floor covering materials must be limited in porosity and the adhesives used must not support the growth of microorganisms.

THE WATER CULPRIT

In recent years the concrete industry has shifted to a higher water-to-concrete ratio. This makes concrete go farther and makes it easier to place, but can also mean moisture seepage from above or below, which can damage floor covering materials. In the supermarket environment, with many potential sources of water, the products to use are those with the most resistance to moisture: Portland cement-based underlayments, ceramic and stone tile products. Meanwhile, the concrete industry is experimenting with plastic additives to remedy water damage problems.

Among the driving concerns of floor covering manufacturers catering to supermarkets is ease of maintenance. Perhaps the most interesting developments of the near future will be in the area of providing for this essential requirement while satisfying the need for both beauty and slip resistance.

Ray Thompson is owner of the Ray Thompson Flooring institute, with more than 35 years in the business. He is a consultant and a columnist for Specialist Publications, Encino, Calif.