Part of the reason the new part of the store looks so nice is that Safeway actually installed big windows along the front wall, letting in tons of natural light, instead of going for the windowless design that modern stores tend to default to. The woodgrain flooring definitely helps too! On the other hand, the exposed insulation doesn't look particularly nice -- I do like the exposed bowstring trusses on the ceiling, but I wish they had installed something to cover up the warehouse-style insulation. At least they did a better job of installing it tidily than we saw at the brand-new U District store.
Exposed insulation is certainly not a common thing! It does make it look like this store has a makeshift drop ceiling, but it looks more makeshift than like a drop ceiling, lol. Still, it is better than a lot of other modern supermarket ceiling designs where just about everything is exposed in an often jarring fashion! Besides that, I think the white in the ceiling goes well with the classy fake wood floor.
ReplyDeleteI've seen this in a few older stores -- mostly in California, probably because of their strict building codes when it comes to energy efficiency. This store's version definitely looks better than average.
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