As the market leader in Irish grocery and food, SuperValu are continually looking forward to enhance their brand experience and win with an ever more demanding audience. As their trusted design partners since 2015, TapCreative were engaged to help evolve the shopping experience into a pioneering flagship food destination. SuperValu Knocklyon was identified as the site to herald this ambition.
The reinvigoration of the store responds to the changing pace of the market and appeals to a more diverse and younger customer dynamic, meeting new food needs. The project embodied co-creation at its best, collaborating with store development, brand, and customer experience teams to multi-agency and supplier involvement at different stages of the journey. Taking the brand expression concept, TapCreative involving Rigney Forge, interpreted this to design and developed a credible, fit-for-purpose new retail environment.
We developed a simple and robust suite of materials and design principles to bring the vibrancy of ‘Real Food Real People’ alive across the retail environment. All these materials are modest in nature but used in exciting ways to ensure retail focus is based around celebrating quality food, choice and the passion of the people that make SuperValu.
The food market is the new heart of the store, combining a range of quality food offers, each with a distinctive personality. The design language speaks to these distinctions, whilst maintaining a consistency to the overall concept. With this framework, brand destinations were created for The Happy Pear & Friends, Caramico pizza and Donnybrook Fair.
Throughout the ambient store aisle, we developed impactful hot spots to draw shoppers down the aisle to explore key exciting areas such as Health & Wellness, The Happy Pear & Friends, Personal Care, Baby, Pet & a feature Off License area. These zones are defined through design that incorporates lighting, signage, steel framing and designated colour schemes. Value offer bays thread throughout the store to promote discovery of best value deals.
We developed a floorplan that leads with an entrance into a fresh food market aisle, focusing on the fresh produce at the centre and bordered by serviced counters. Center floor, fresh produce is displayed in refreshed fixtures that uses natural feeling woods with a tactile element. The steel and fixtures in this area are owned with a signature fresh green colour and used galvanized corrugation to nod back to produces local sourcing roots. We have also included large statement trees to support that fresh food feeling in stucco finished planters.
An evolution of the produce section to ‘The Greengrocer’ was created to amplify the category.
Again, real, authentic materials, simple storytelling and friendly tone of voice place the brand’s ethos and their quality products firmly in the minds of their customers; all with a keen eye on existing operational standards.
The new experience enables customers to dwell and shop clearly highlighted destinations such as Organic, In Season, Value Super 7 & enjoy fresh press juices in store.
With their commitment to providing the best for its community at heart, the new decant Kitchen concept provides healthy meals-to-go for the community throughout the day.
Responding to changing customer needs and expectations, SuperValu has embraced this through click and collect facilities and the incorporation of a seating area with flexibility for community events. SuperValu set out to connect fresh quality products, best tasting food and convenience for its community. The modern and exciting retail environment at Knocklyon is testimony to this, a result of successful strategic design and collaboration by SuperValu store and its partners.
The vibrant new format that sets the standard in modern shopping and food experience, driving SuperValu ahead, providing a template for nationwide rollout.
