Retail design trends

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Re: Retail design trends

Post by veteran+ »

CVS does a lousy job of keeping those carpets clean, at least from what I have seen in S. California and S. Florida.

Really dirty looking!

Actually I am not impressed with their general store maintenance.

Cobwebs all over the windows, product and debris in between windows and sill, huge accumulation of dust and debris in between register and counter at pharmacy, etc. etc.
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Re: Retail design trends

Post by klkla »

BatteryMill wrote: September 25th, 2020, 6:21 pm
TW-Upstate NY wrote: September 23rd, 2020, 8:43 am Terrazzo seems to wear like iron too. Good example of that-I graduated high school in 1980 and the school itself was built in the mid-1960's. The main entrance in front of the office and auditorium had terrazzo flooring which looked original to the building. I just saw a recent picture of that entry way and that floor was still going strong 50+ years later none the worse for wear.
I definitely can understand that - it just feels stable. Not as many cracks, the occasional smudge, no costly measures to repair. I wonder why it's uncommon in retail nowadays - does it look dated to designers? Expensive?
It's very expensive to install but it's very inexpensive to maintain. The problem is that the colors and patterns chosen in 2020 are not going to be as fashionable in 2030 and will definitely look outdated in 2040 so most chains opt for a cheaper flooring solution that can be replaced every 5-10 years.
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Re: Retail design trends

Post by Bagels »

Stater Bros. is renovating their stores with (fake) wood flooring throughout. It does indeed give them an upscale look Previously, a local Stater Bros. reminded me of a 1980s-era grocery store (even though it was built in the late '90s); they merely changed the flooring, and wow, what a difference.

Prior to the Great Recession, Meijer converted two supercenters with hardwood floors, as a prototype of its future stores. I was in one of the stores -- it was very nice. Unfortunately, Meijer claimed the cost of installing + maintaining the hardwood was prohibitive; most of the flooring in that one location was converted to polished concrete when it was renovated several years ago.
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Re: Retail design trends

Post by storewanderer »

Bagels wrote: September 26th, 2020, 7:52 pm Stater Bros. is renovating their stores with (fake) wood flooring throughout. It does indeed give them an upscale look Previously, a local Stater Bros. reminded me of a 1980s-era grocery store (even though it was built in the late '90s); they merely changed the flooring, and wow, what a difference.

Prior to the Great Recession, Meijer converted two supercenters with hardwood floors, as a prototype of its future stores. I was in one of the stores -- it was very nice. Unfortunately, Meijer claimed the cost of installing + maintaining the hardwood was prohibitive; most of the flooring in that one location was converted to polished concrete when it was renovated several years ago.
Holiday in NorCal had some some pergo-like flooring in a few remodels about 5 years ago and I thought it looked really good. It gave a rustic look and feel to the stores (which given their remote locations, fit in well). But when they went through and did more detailed remodels the past couple years, they went to concrete.
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Re: Retail design trends

Post by BatteryMill »

cjd wrote: September 25th, 2020, 7:25 pm And of course Walmart uses wood in their clothing departments only from what I've seen. The newer wood floors they're using in their stores when they do concrete have more of a grippy feel while the older wood look floors were glossy just like the tiles. I saw them putting them down one night and they appear to come in strips that stick on.
Walmart's wooden flooring has appeared in other places, such as baby products and the HBC collection. Interestingly, I've seen a few new stores that have entirely done away with the wood flooring. This comes in tandem with the rest of the store going concrete.
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Re: Retail design trends

Post by storewanderer »

veteran+ wrote: September 26th, 2020, 6:04 am CVS does a lousy job of keeping those carpets clean, at least from what I have seen in S. California and S. Florida.

Really dirty looking!

Actually I am not impressed with their general store maintenance.

Cobwebs all over the windows, product and debris in between windows and sill, huge accumulation of dust and debris in between register and counter at pharmacy, etc. etc.
Both CVS and Walgreens have very poorly maintained stores. In my area the Walgreens are by far the worst on their exterior maintenance (dead landscaping, cobwebs all over the windows and building awnings, etc). Walgreens look a lot better inside, than they do outside. CVS, specifically those OLD Longs Stores, are smelly dumps inside and out. CVS is supposedly in the process of replacing a couple of the awful 40+ year old former Sav-Ons in Reno (one project is actually under construction, no clue what is happening with the other project but a big temporary pharmacy trailer has been sitting in the parking lot of the subject store for about 3 years now). Maybe once that project is done they can focus on the former 35+ year old OLD Longs Stores.

CVS has done some remodels to the 15-20 year old stores here that either they built, Longs built, or Rite Aid built (Longs took over briefly) and they replace the carpets in those stores, so it seems carpet is a CVS thing that is not going anywhere. I suspect CVS does these remodels to the newer stores to prevent them from falling into the disrepair of the smelly OLD Longs dumps. It is a shame in a sense as there was a time 30 years ago when those big Longs Stores were very vibrant places with lots of customers, tons of merchandise, and lots of employees. How times change.
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Re: Retail design trends

Post by Bagels »

The disparity of CVS's stores in SoCal (LA/OC only) isn't surprising, given that many (most?) were once Savon or Longs. Savons had been neglected for years whereas Longs built out its fleet of stores with as little capital as possible; of course, both were much bigger than the typical CVS. CVS rushed to covert these stores under its banner, and the result was often ugly. But CVS is currently renovating these stores. I was in an ex-Savon last night that had been recently remodeled - totally new, modern layout with new lighting, carpeting, etc. What surprises me though is that CVS is keeping all that space... that store (like many others) is at least twice the size of a typical CVS and was well spread out. You'd think they'd try to divide the store up.
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Re: Retail design trends

Post by cjd »

BatteryMill wrote: September 27th, 2020, 11:16 am
cjd wrote: September 25th, 2020, 7:25 pm And of course Walmart uses wood in their clothing departments only from what I've seen. The newer wood floors they're using in their stores when they do concrete have more of a grippy feel while the older wood look floors were glossy just like the tiles. I saw them putting them down one night and they appear to come in strips that stick on.
Walmart's wooden flooring has appeared in other places, such as baby products and the HBC collection. Interestingly, I've seen a few new stores that have entirely done away with the wood flooring. This comes in tandem with the rest of the store going concrete.
You're right - I forgot my local Walmart has it in the baby section too, it might be in the adjacent shoe dept also. I don't recall seeing it in HBC here.
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Re: Retail design trends

Post by Bagels »

Walmart's had that crappy faux wood for years. When a store near me opened several years ago (a converted Sears Great Indoors), it was well worn, as if they pulled it from another store.
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Re: Retail design trends

Post by cjd »

Our Sears store actually had wood floors, only in the section where the washers and dryers were. Which is odd, since that doesn't fit with that theme. It could be that was originally a different dept, but as far as I can remember it was the same thing (and I had been going there since it was new). The rest of the store had carpeting in the clothing departments as well as electronics/vacuums, with ceramic tile in the main walk through aisles. The tools and appliance departments had gray patterned vinyl tile as well as the auto center, with green or orange rubber mats in the seasonal and outdoor/fitness departments, lawn mowers, etc.
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