It's not even an actionway-size aisle running along the checkouts -- it really is just a normal aisle. The fancy shelf lighting indicates that there was probably something special on these shelves at some point, but now it's just packaged cookies and crackers. It's also quite strange to see the customer service sign right above the regular checkouts -- I guess it's technically true, but it just seems wrong.
How exactly does check-out work in this store? Are shoppers expected to pay for their items separately in each building before exiting, or are you allowed to freely walk back and forth between the two buildings and pay whenever you're done regardless of building? I'm leaning toward the latter option, but not really sure since most stores aren't split in half like this!
ReplyDeleteThis is the only set of checkouts in the store, apart from the self-checkouts we saw over by produce (which don't appear to get a lot of use). There's a specific exit door behind the checkouts (just to the right of lane 3 in this picture), but there isn't anything stopping you from leaving through the gate in the courtyard. The courtyard is basically treated as part of the salesfloor in this store, with the idea being that you enter through the courtyard and then exit over here.
DeleteOn the other hand, the old Fred Meyer Marketplace at Broadway Market (now a giant QFC) did operate in the other way, with separate checkouts for the upper and lower levels. It's too bad that setup went away so long ago, because it would have been really interesting to see a store that functioned more like two separate stores! I'm not sure if there's anything like that around these days.
The Wood Village Fred Meyer had separate checkouts upstairs and downstairs and clothing (upstairs) purchases had to be made upstairs when I was there last year. Maybe that is/was just a Portland area thing though.
DeleteInteresting! It used to be the norm for Fred Meyers to have separate checkouts for the clothing department, but I've never been to one where you're required to purchase clothing there -- in fact, most of the time, Fred Meyer doesn't even staff those secondary checkouts, and they've removed them in a lot of recent remodels. That must be a Portland thing -- I haven't been to very many Fred Meyers in the Portland area, and it's been quite some time since I last visited one around there. Perhaps that store had a lot of problems with theft in the clothing department.
DeleteOddly enough, that Wood Village Fred Meyer actually looked like a low crime area. Unlike all the hype about Portland Fred Meyers having rent-a-cop receipt checkers, that one did not have them (the neighboring Gresham Fred Meyer did have them when I went). Then again, maybe they thought forcing people to use the upstairs checkouts meant they could get away without the receipt checkers. The Wood Village/Troutdale area did look pretty nice though, at least compared to Gresham, so I would be surprised if it is a high crime area.
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