I have a generally positive opinion about this store, unlike most of you -- but the pharmacy corner is a massive exception to that. The pharmacy itself only has a small wall sign painted almost exactly the same color as the wall behind it, and rather than the walls continuing to the ceiling, they left a large empty black hole above it (always one of my pet peeves of retail design), made even worse by the large black-painted roof thing on top of the pharmacy box. I tend to have more positive impressions of stores when I'm there in person than when I go back through the photos afterwards, but I distinctly remember thinking about how incredibly blah this scene was while I was here.
The idea of making the pharmacy look like a building within a building is an interesting one, but this looks pretty strange. The pharmacy looks kind of like a walk-up burger joint or snack bar. That's a bit strange. Of course, on top of that, as you say, this is extremely boring looking. It just a sea of grey. It is quite ugly.
ReplyDeleteI had quite the retail experience tonight! I went to my local Fiesta Mart today. I've shared this store with you before, it is the one with stained glass, lots of neon, and other decor elements from when the store opened in 1988-9. Well, as I stepped inside the store today, I noticed all of this is gone. The neon is gone, the fake stages on the fascias/soffits are gone, the fake windows are gone, and the neon-covered boat in the seafood department is gone. The stained glass is gone as well. In fact, the enclosed seafood department was walled-in and a new seafood service department was built on the main sales floor. All the service departments were updated to some regard with new tiling and such. All the fasicas were re-drywalled and they have been painted into El Super's decor colors, but the new decor is not up yet so they're still working on the store. Anyway, I remember being blown away by the decor this store had when it opened and that decor stuck around for almost 35 years. It is sad that it is gone now, but at least the El Super colors are bright and makes the store look bright and clean.
I just hope they keep the current floor around or replace it with new vinyl because this store would look absolutely terrible with a concrete floor! The last thing we need is a Raley's look, lol. Anyway, here are some photos of how the store used to look: https://goo.gl/maps/AbFL1AGra2NabULV6
I hadn't even thought about it being designed as if it was its own building, but like you said, it still doesn't look all that great regardless!
DeleteYikes, that's too bad. That was a seriously cool store and I was hoping it would stick around indefinitely. It really feels like a lot of cool vintage retail stuff has gone away in just the past year or two throughout the country, which really sucks. And not just grocery stores either... malls and department stores have been hit hard, though that's a longer-term thing. Oh well, maybe I'm just in a doom and gloom mood at the moment.