Making a Splash

Store Equipment & Design, March, 2000 by David Litwak

Entering a new market, one retailer uses the opportunity to unveil a radical new prototype

Often a move by a retailer into a new area is a good opportunity to try something just a little bit different. It may be the perfect time to unveil a totally new format as shoppers have no preconceived notions of what the stores are like. Entering a new market is also the time for a retailer to shine--to impress a new group of shoppers, you have to put your best ideas into the first store opening in that area.

This is exactly what Kash N' Karry Food Stores, a division of Food Lion, Salisbury, N.C., has done with its recently opened unit in Clermont, Fla. The central Florida retailer decided that its first new store in the Clermont area would be a great opportunity to design a store that was a departure from its usual units. Kash N' Karry wanted a store that would cater to the needs and tastes of area shoppers, was exciting and fun to shop, was convenient and showcased the company's emphasis on fresh foods.

"We paid a lot of attention to who our customer was and what they were looking for," said Juan Romero, principal, ArchitecturePlus International (API), Tampa, Fla., the store's designer. Among Romerds primary considerations were those common to many retailers: "Everybody is very time-sensitive and everyone is looking for convenience."

Romero's team took into account the overall marketing strategy for Kash N' Karry, which included the company's reputation for fresh products and services, combined with a sensitivity to the need for convenience.

Like many new stores, the new Kash N' Karry places the fresh prepared products many shoppers are looking for up front in the flow of the store. However, it's not a question of which comes first--fresh products or grocery items. The design uses the concept of space and movement to tie everything together.

ARRAY OF FRESHNESS

This store features a 35-foot-high rotunda that gives an atrium effect as customers walk through the doors. The deli and bakery were placed right up front, and the circular effect of the rotunda carries over into the fresh departments, which form a semicircle that guides customers from one to the next. Starting with deli, proceeding into prepared foods, floral, courtyard cafe with seating area and then bakery, the customer is swept along right into the produce department. Upon entering the store, shoppers never see the typical box with long aisles; instead they become part of the circle of color, aroma and freshness.

A bonus effect of this semicircular arrangement is that shoppers looking for quick meals can get in and out of the store quickly and easily.

"You can come to the store every day to pick up something to eat, or you can do a huge shop throughout the entire store," Romero said. "It's designed to have the convenience right in front of you the moment you walk into the store.

"For a long time we've done those power alleys of fresh products that typically run down the side of the store, and the rest of the store was not particularly exciting. This store is exciting wherever you go--from beginning to end."

LET THERE BE LIGHT

Lighting plays an important part in making the store inviting and exciting. Blessed with an abundance of natural Florida sunshine, the store's rotunda atrium and large complex of windows on the front wall wash the large specialty merchandising area in the store's entrance as well as the fresh departments in natural light for most of the day, lending the areas an open-air marketplace feel.

"After making the move to have all the fresh foods moved out in front," Romero said, "we felt that this was a hell of a commitment that we've made to a new strategy, so let's do something to accentuate it further." This is where the idea of a dramatic, naturally lit atrium originated.

Kash N' Karry did not start with the design for a beautiful building and then decide where to place the departments inside it; rather, the retailer understood where the departments had to be to satisfy customers, and developed the building around the departments. This involved a great deal of teamwork and communication among Kash N' Karry's operations, engineering and merchandising groups, as well as API in developing the store's design, according to Mike Byars, chief operating officer at Kash N' Karry. The team went through a number of different designs before coming up with the one that became the Clermont store.

The produce section reinforces the open-air marketplace feel with European-style display tables and carts. The produce prep area, as well as all other fresh preparation areas, are open to public view, encouraging interaction between shoppers and employees.

API also designed signage and promotional materials to reinforce the feeling of an outdoor market. Large photos around the store were made to look like roadside billboards, enhancing the fresh message.

Beyond the circle of fresh departments lies the meat, dairy, frozen, seafood, grocery and non-foods departments. These are not readily visible until the shopper rounds the semi-circle past the produce section. Here the store's design becomes more traditional, but only a little. The grocery and household supply aisles are in the center, running front-to-back with the specialty foods, seafood, meat, frozen and dairy sections forming a ring around them along the store's perimeter. What sets this store apart from most others is that the center aisles are not dull, because shoppers looking down them see the activity of the fresh departments.