From this angle, the pharmacy and bakery signs in the distance almost look like Modern. Some parts of this decor do look like an upgraded version of Modern (the department signs use the same style of font and some still have a woodgrain background), but the overall design is different enough that I consider this to be its own thing rather than just an evolution of Modern. There are influences here from Modern, Ultra-Premium, and those special local decor packages used in a few stores (mostly Haggen, Andronico's, and Acme), but it's not really a direct descendant of any of those. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the people who designed those earlier decors worked on this one, though!
I'm not sure what's going on with the flooring there! It looks like fake concrete vinyl tiles, but the fake concrete looks a bit like tile scarred Krotesque concrete. It probably looks a lot better than an actual Kroger floor, but still. Surely Safeway could have picked something better.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Krotesque, it looks like the the product labels on the aisle markers are starting to fall off, kind of like Kroger aisle markers. Maybe those aisle markers won't age well. Are those spot lights aimed at the aisle markers new?
I definitely think the flooring looked better in person than it does in pictures, especially this picture. It's not the nicest grocery floor I've ever seen, but I hate to criticize it too much since it is a lot better than what any other major chain has done in many years now, and definitely a big upgrade over the super cheap vinyl the Seattle Division used in the Modern era.
DeleteThe aisle markers are a bit weird, with the category plaques seemingly hanging (loosely) from pins instead of sliding into tracks like basically every other decor package ever. I'm not really sure what the idea was there, but it looks like aisle 14 is the only one with significant issues. I hadn't even noticed the spotlights, but Google Maps pictures show that they have always been there, which is a bit odd since I'm not sure how they were supposed to work with the Lifestyle v2.1 aisle markers that were perpendicular to the actionway!