Fundamentally, the vaulted ceiling in this store isn't that different from the ones Safeway occasionally used in the Marina era; however, it just doesn't have the same effect in this store, thanks to the very industrial-looking roof beams and exposed utilities. The giant HVAC duct right in the peak of the roof really ruins the visual effect of having a high ceiling, too. This is about as good as it gets at vintage Fred Meyers though -- apart from a few exceptions in the 90s and early 00s, Fred Meyer never really built particularly visually interesting stores.
I know Fred Meyer likes to stack general merchandise items above the shelves, but it's strange to see it in the grocery section especially since the stuff up there isn't in cartons or anything. Odd, it's a strange look for a Kroger in addition to the strange shelves themselves and that ugly ceiling!
ReplyDeleteYeah, normally they don't do that in the grocery department because there aren't any shelves above the main merchandise shelves. Here, I guess the extra space provided by the lighting structure was just too tempting! (Plus, it seems like this store has very little back room space anyway.)
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