Most of the grocery aisles here have large black illuminated structures built over the shelving, giving it a rather industrial look. This sort of thing was once common at Fred Meyer (and some other chains too), but seems to be mostly gone these days. And I have to wonder why this was ever popular -- it has a somewhat oppressive look, making the aisles look narrower and the shelves taller than they actually are. The lighting seems somewhat pointless too, not aimed to illuminate the products and also drowned out by the much brighter overhead lighting. I guess it's just one of those things that made sense at the time, that time being the 80s-90s.
This is rather odd. I've seen 1980s supermarkets with shelving lights and the black bar up across the top. Some the late 1980s Fiesta Marts here in Houston have those. They usually don't have them for every aisle, but they have them in some aisles. Here's one example: https://goo.gl/maps/rfM1Pvx2AUkE51sX9
ReplyDeleteHere's a view from a different Fiesta Mart: https://goo.gl/maps/6ff44R1cRVJ872WQ7
That said, I can't recall seeing shelves with those vertical supports in front of the shelves like is the case at this Fred Meyer. That's quite strange!
Yeah, I've seen that style of lighting too. And then there are the backlit sign bands that Kroger used. Seems like there were a lot of variations on this theme in that era. I swear I've seen pictures of something very similar to this, with the vertical supports, at some other chain, but I'm not sure where.
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