We asked you to help us re-envision the supermarket, and after culling through your submissions and tallying the votes, we have a winner! Congratulations to Alison Cross for her innovative grocery store design, which features a circular structure, plentiful bike racks, shorter aisles for easy access, tables for community use, and an on-site garden for produce. She built her concept around the principles of a holistic lifestyle. Sound better than your local superstore? We think so too.
Alison will receive a GOOD T-shirt and a year’s subscription for herself or a friend. Thanks to all who submitted inventive ideas.
Check out Alison’s description of her supermarket for more details:
A Cross Creative envisions a grocery store that promotes health not only through its selection, but also its layout. We decided to start with a labyrinth shape to allude to the thought that should go into choosing the foods that we eat. With this contemplative theme in mind, the other aspects of our design grew out of the need to keep the market simple. The overall footprint should be small: about 3,000 square feet or less, to make it easy for people to run in and grab what they need. Checkout aisles will be shorter than the average market.
Other features include:
• Checkout kiosks located in the center of the store allow employees to monitor the entire store easily from a single location if necessary.
• Windows across the front flood the space with light.
• Bike racks enable customers to cut down on driving, but they also provide a security barrier against smash-and-grab type issues.
• An on-site garden allows the store to produce some of its own food.
• A water catchment system allows for roof water to be used to water the garden.
• Assorted personal care items can be spread throughout the inner rings of the store.
• Tables up front allow customers to linger, possibly eating prepared foods they’ve purchased.
• Wi-Fi should be available. The more customers hanging around, the less of a target store employees are for theft and other crimes.
Finally, the store also corresponds to the new healthy eating symbol. This entire plan keeps in mind a holistic way of living. What’s inside the store is as important as what is outside the store. There will need to be parking. However, because we envision this type of smaller store peppered throughout city areas, the need for oversized parking lots becomes obsolete. People will make more frequent trips to the store to buy smaller amounts of food since the stuff that’s good for us is perishable.
