Yep, with the 2021 remodel, Walmart swapped out the original horizontal logo for a new, vertically-arranged (or square, as some people call it... and that's probably a better term, but I've always thought of these signs with the icon above the text as being "vertical") sign. That's not an issue -- I've always liked vertically-arranged signs like this, which have frequently been used by Albertsons and Safeway -- but I have an issue with the way that they made it stick up beyond the arched roofline, especially on this store where there's plenty of space where they could have slid the logo down. Sadly, this seems to be a standard thing Walmart is doing to arch model stores in recent remodels.
Whoa, Wal-Mart on the Northwest Retail Blog! This is certainly something I was not expecting. You're right, this is something quite different from Macy's! It may or may not be something quite different from Fred Meyer, I suppose we'll see. I must admit that my visits to Wal-Mart in recent years have been minimal. I think I've only made two visits to a Walmart since the start of 2019! I did see some of Walmart's recent decor on one of those visits and it was not impressive. I've also seen more photos of it online, but it's so bland that I rarely commit much time looking at it.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea Walmart was updating their facades like this. I have not seen that here in Houston, but admittedly I might not be looking closely enough at Walmarts. Kmart also added some structures to their older facades which added a curve above the previous roofline of the facade. I'm not really for or against what Walmart did, but perhaps emulating Kmart isn't a wise idea, lol. Link: https://flickr.com/photos/10542402@N06/37289760854/
We'll have to see how this goes. After working on my guest post about annual reports some months back, it did bring back a lot of memories about the interiors of Wal-Mart Discount Cities back in the 1980s. Those were pretty nice interiors for a discount store. It's been kind of downhill for Wal-Mart interiors from there. Well, maybe the initial interior remodels after Project Impact or whatever were pretty decent, but that seems to have been a rare exception.
Certainly uninspired interiors have not hurt Walmart's sales! If anything, the spartan interiors might drive home the idea that Walmart has low prices. I don't know. From what I read online, Walmart has installed even more self-checkouts and have even fewer manned checkouts than before. They're also perhaps not so diligent about restocking empty shelves as they might have been in the past. I don't know if this is true, but again, their sales seem to be doing just fine. FWIW, I'm shopping there less frequently than I did, say, a decade ago so there is that.
Sorry for the late replies lately -- Blogger has decided that it doesn't want to send me comment notification emails consistently anymore. 🙄
DeleteThis is the 4th Walmart I've posted on here (so far fewer than, say, Safeway or Fred Meyer), but now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure it's the first one that was actually built as a Walmart! The others have been a mini-Supercenter in an old Top Foods, a non-Supercenter in an old Mervyn's, and a Neighborhood Market in a former furniture store.
I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by the interior here! It's not too special, but certainly a step up from Walmart's recent decors.
Funny to think that Walmart is doing something like Kmart! That facade addition looks even sillier than the one here.
Self checkouts are an interesting story, which I'll be talking about later in this set. Seems like Walmart can't make up their mind on that one!
Honestly, stock issues have been a long-term thing for Walmart, at least in the northwest. Even when I was a little kid and Port Angeles still had a non-Supercenter, it was always extremely frustrating shopping there since something you needed was always out of stock. If that was a widespread thing around here, perhaps that's part of why they never took off in the northwest!
I actually don't mind this for some reason... maybe the curved facade below it makes the portion that sticks up feel more natural than on the normal flat facades? Not sure. Re: interior décor, I'm excited for what's ahead! Of course, it's already been established in the past that I like Walmart a lot more than most in the retail community, lol.
ReplyDeleteHa, well, I think your area's Walmarts may well be nicer than those in many parts of the country! Anyway, I'm in the same boat -- my preferred store (Safeway) also seems to be not exactly well loved by many retail people.
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