Wal-Mart ushers in new era in store design and layout

Discount Store News, Oct 20, 1997 by Mike Troy

FAYETTEVILLE, ARK. -- Don't look for the University of Arkansas to change its mascot from Razorback to guinea pig anytime soon, but with the opening here of a 202,000-sq.-ft. supercenter, Wal-Mart left little doubt it's putting Fayetteville residents under the microscope.

The retailer is experimenting with a new store layout and fixture package that blends many previously tested merchandising initiatives with others that are entirely new. The result is a supercenter dramatically different from others.

"What we learn here, we are going to be able to take to other parts of the country," chief operating officer Don Soderquist told the roughly 500 people who gathered in the store's parking lot and endured drizzling rain to witness the 8 a.m. grand opening earlier this month. "You are part of Wal-Mart history."

A more taciturn president and ceo David Glass told DSN, "At Wal-Mart, we are constantly looking for ways to improve the store, and this store incorporates a lot of our current thinking." He went on to characterize changes in layout, fixtures and adjacencies as "evolutionary" and despite the writing on a large grand-opening sheet cake said, "It is a misnomer to call [this supercenter] the store of the future. We haven't opened what you would truly call a prototype in years."

The store's textured red brick exterior, brightly lit interior, open design and new merchandising presentation differ greatly from Wal-Mart stores of the past. Some noticeable changes and new features include:

* The deli department has been combined with the bakery just inside the front door. To accommodate the change, 1,000 sq. ft. was added to the department. With the deli gone from the rear of the store, there's more room for shoppers to navigate through the high-traffic dairy area. Aisles have also been widened to roughly 10 ft. in the freezer area. Slightly textured tile flooring in the spill-prone fresh department simplifies maintenance and provides surer footing for customers.

* The soft lines area has a new fixture package called "Denim Market." The prominent semi-circular overhead signs feature simulated wood grain and galvanized steel with blue lettering and can be found at entrances to the men's and women's areas. Smaller departmental signs and some shelving are made of the same materials. There's also a strong Looney Tunes presence in soft lines. A triangular blue fixture suspended from the ceiling features Bugs Bunny while characters such as Taz, Sylvester and Tweety adorn the tops of other garment fixtures.

* The cosmetics and toiletries area has been given a much higher profile with dramatic, gondola-topping backlit signage. There's also a light blue tile floor to create a store-within-a-store feel and to further differentiate it from the nearby jewelry, pharmacy and health & beauty care departments. The cosmetics/toiletries area is now located on the inside of the store's outer racetrack directly across from the pharmacy.

* Wal-Mart's '50s theme Radio Grill has replaced McDonald's at the rear of the store. The restaurant features black and white floor tile and a wrap-around metallic blue sign with simulated pink neon.

* A One Source nutritional supplement department is adjacent to the supercenter's bank and portrait studio. It's the seventh One Source store to open since the first unit debuted in Bedford, Texas, six months ago. One Source carries 1,100 products including 600 of which are not found it a traditional Wal-Mart store.

* A dramatically reconfigured hardware department identified by overhead signage as "home improvement." Customers are invited into the department with gondolas that angle away from the outside of the racetrack toward the rear of the store. More than a dozen ceiling fans were displayed overhead in the department's home lighting area, and power tools are openly merchandised atop a long U-shaped gondola that allows customers to enter from only one end. Paint is clearly an emphasis in the department thanks to a large overhead sign and a staffed paint mixing station with nearby color charts.

* The electronics department, typically in the middle of the store, has been relocated to the rear and is being referred to as the interactive department. Customers can scan music titles and listen to three tracks for 45 seconds or scan video titles and watch a 30-second clip. There's also a video game play station and a service called Wal-Mart Live next to computers. Previously tested in six Virginia-area stores, the video conferencing unit allows customers to see and hear the person they are speaking with about computer questions.

* Adjacent to the interactive area is an equally radical sporting goods department. The cash registers are once again against the rear wall where it is flanked by two manually operated revolving Plexiglas cases each capable of holding 18 shotguns or rifles. The area in front of the checkstand is devoted to a carpeted display area for fitness equipment. Four plastic pallets of rod-and-reel combinations are merchandised nearby.