![]() AdvertisementĬrisp black fixturing dominates the store, along with brick and stone accents, though each department is differentiated with its own color palette. An enhanced wine and spirits department features a walk-in beverage cooler with a playful gray and mauve jester-hat graphic. Other elements unique to this Piggly Wiggly include a “Cuisine Express” department situated at the front of the store, between checkout lanes, for grab-and-go dinners. They don’t have to worry about getting hit from behind with another cart.” Because of the size issue, explains Wiertzema, aspects of the new look – such as skylights and décor – will be retrofitted in some other existing stores, but full integration of the circular concept can only take place in spaces of 50,000 square feet or more. “The way we designed the space, our customers never run into corners. “We arranged the refrigerated cases in the circular format, too, rather than creating a right-angled display,” says Houser. “This technique requires 30 percent less wattage than direct light to achieve the same level of brightness,” says Wiertzema. Lighting around the nexus skylight is indirect, shining up instead of down. The electric lighting is set up to dim when the outdoor light is high. The 20-foot exposed ceiling, painted a dramatic eggplant, is also equipped with halogens, mercury vapor lighting and fluorescents. Besides the centerpiece skylight, each department revolves around its own skylight, varying in sizes to a minimum of 10 feet across.” “The natural light creates a more pleasant, soothing shopping experience for our customers. “We have 12 skylights altogether,” explains Michael Houser, vice chairman and chief marketing officer of Fresh Brands. The circular theme is reiterated in ocular skylights placed strategically around the 60,000-square-foot space one main skylight with a 60-foot diameter radiates like a sun in the center. The broad circle of its layout is akin to an orbit, with round departments like planets on the periphery. The hometown store, which replaces another Piggly Wiggly in the same neighborhood, is the grocery anchor of a new retail center, a site that lay fallow for years before the developer was able to bring it to shopping center quality. “So designers thought outside the box and came up with a circular layout within a square space.” “We wanted to achieve something different this time,” Wiertzema says. Not the case with Fresh Brands’new Piggly Wiggly in the Washington Square center of Sheboygan. (Sheboygan, Wis.), even when store planners aim to create something unique to the supermarket genre. ![]() Most new grocery prototypes end up with the familiar rectangular layout and parallel aisles due to space and financial constraints, according to Wayne Wiertzema, vp of store engineering and real estate at Fresh Brands Inc.
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