Small store, big remodel

Store Equipment & Design, August, 2000 by Marilyn D. Cavicchia

An ultra-conventional grocery store in West Hollywood becomes one colorful Gelson's.

Gelson's Markets President Robert Stiles jokingly calls his recently remodeled store in West Hollywood, Calif., "a monster - all of 18,000 square feet." This is the retailer's smallest store - there are 15, all in California - but its visual impact is certainly not puny. Impressive features include an artist-created "skylight," cleverly crafted foam blocks that create department identity and a restroom so lavishly decorated that curious customers might be tempted to ask for the keys just to take a peek. The store, a former Mayfair which reopened under the Gelson's name in December, was not a vision of beauty prior to the makeover; the exterior was a plain big box. "It was very, very, very, very conventional," says Becky Phegley of King Design International (KDI), Eugene, Ore.

The interior had not seen a remodel in 15 or 20 years, Phegley estimates. She described both the graphics and the store layout as "definitely '60s." Prior to the remodel, the store was one of three remaining Mayfair units in Southern California. Once a good-sized chain, Mayfair has dwindled over the years, ever since the company that owned it bought Gelson's in 1966. In the near future, perhaps even by the end of this year, Mayfair will cease to exist.

The West Hollywood store sits right next door to city hall, with barely a hair's breadth between the two. This posed some design challenges, Phegley says, especially because West Hollywood's building codes and aesthetic standards are rather strict.

City officials now vote their approval with their wallets: The mayor and and other local figures are frequent shoppers, according to store manager Lou Lacasella. The store's customers also include many film and television industry celebrities, though Lacasella declines to name names. Plenty of West Hollywood's residents are involved in film, TV or other "artsy" pursuits, Phegley notes; There's also a sizeable gay population. Given that it's a stone's throw from Beverly Hills, West Hollywood is surprisingly low-key, and in fact gets a little dicey on the fringes. The area is more about sex shops and coffeehouses than Prada boutiques and Alfa Romeo dealerships, though there are multi-million-dollar estates on the hillside visible from the store's parking lot.

FITTING IT ALL IN

More troubling than the store's outdated appearance was that it had only one service department--a small service meats area. That was a big problem, given Encino, Calif.-based retailer's reputation for freshness and service. Floral, fresh seafood, a larger service meats area, a sushi bar, a service deli, a bakery and a coffee bar all had to be added. About 30 employees were added, too, though Lacasella says that wasn't much of a problem, as many were simply reassigned from other nearby Gelson's stores. Because the parking lot was already on the small side--it has about 75 spaces--the footprint could not be substantially expanded. Instead, a little "niche" was carved out in the front left corner for bakery/coffee, and a 10-foot-wide area at the front of the store was bumped out about 4 feet to make room for floral. Other than that, the store grew not an inch.

Shoehorning everything into such a small space involved paring down the grocery section, taking the shelving up a bit higher-- not enough to cause problems for shorter customers--and changing produce from a long, aisle-type department to more of a corner setup. While there do tend to be long lines at the service deli, the store doesn't look cramped and overcrowded; in fact, it looks open and quite a bit larger than its actual size. Shoppers have definitely picked up on this. "I was in there a couple of times visiting with customers and this lady said, 'Well, I know you didn't move the left wall and I know you didn't move the right wall, so how did you make it so much bigger?"' Phegley says.

COLORFUL TOUCHES

The typical Gelson's runs between 26,000 and 32,000 square feet and uses plenty of color, but in subdued, sophisticated tones, Phegley says. Gelson's and KDI felt West Hollywood's colorful population would enjoy a bolder look.

A splashy sunburst motif is carried throughout the store. For example, there's the warm- and cool-toned Amtico flooring in both the wine/liquor and bakery/coffee departments; a mural-type graphic high above the delicatessen and the fresh meats areas; Plexiglas aisle markers and edge-lit checkstand signs that look almost like stained glass; and the two-sided graphic elements that dangle from metal rods here and there along the perimeter.

There are other colorful touches, too, including one in the bakery that stands in for a produce skylight that turned out to be structurally unfeasible. One of KDI's artists painted blue sky and puffy clouds on a recessed, rectangular patch of ceiling, which is lit to show it off. An assortment of freshlooking prop items--convincing faux greenery, black wrought iron in various shapes, clear and stained-glass windowpanes with white-painted frames--were coordinated by Pam Smith of Gelson's, and cover a ledge running along three perimeter walls.