Safeway St Katherine Docks Safeway's boss raises the curtain on retailtainment'­ where staff and customers are the players. John Wood reports UK grocery shopping seems to be a chore to be endured rather than an experience to be enjoyed, according to Safeway chief executive Carlos Criado-Perez, and the store at St Katharine Docks in London is his blueprint for changing all that. His ambitious aim is to introduce some fun into shopping and to encourage customers ­ and staff ­ to look forward to their time in store. He has labelled this part of his strategy, "retailtainment", and the most eye catching example is the preparation of fresh food where staff hurl huge pizza bases to each other rather like outsize floppy frisbees. New staff with catering experience have been recruited and extra training has been introduced to encourage all staff to engage with customers. Criado-Perez says: "I want to give staff the opportunity to bond and communicate with customers." But the most obvious change introduced at St Katharine Docks is the "new environment" created at a cost of £2m. No detail was overlooked as every facet of the store has been evaluated, and if it didn't match up to the requirement to make the store feel warmer and more welcoming it was replaced. This means a new textured ceramic floor replaces the smooth floor tiles and all the "white" lighting has been replaced with warmer spotlights highlighting signs and directed onto the produce. The colour scheme has also been changed with warmer colours introduced and a ban on shiny white tiling. Even white sides on shelves have been replaced with large colour pictures of produce. New colour signs indicate where products categories are to be found in store, and new blackboard style price signs are intended to provide a market like ambience. The first area entered in the store is the fresh to go section. This provides coffee, made while you wait, sandwiches, and a wide range of ready meals including pasta, noodles, Indian and Mexican. There are also pizzas cooked in a specially imported brick lined pizza oven. The freshness of the food is emphasised by pasta being made behind the counter and the sight of pizza dough being prepared. There is also a patisserie and bakery area. The counters where the meals are dispensed are laid out round three sides of a large square and in the centre are chillers containing packaged fresh ready meals. All the chillers are low level, giving clear sight lines across to the far side, and this together with the wide aisles gives the space an open airy feel. On the fourth side of the square is the fresh fruit and vegetable section where the produce is displayed in large blocks providing eye catching slabs of colour. The same method of display has been employed with many of the ambient goods on the shelves. Rather than following classical category management principles and devoting one or two facings to each line, there are impactful vertical blocks of single lines throughout the ambient section. Some larger pack sizes and "entry level" lines have had to be dropped to make way for the blocks and own label packaging has been altered to suit the new display method. Directors say early indications are that the vertical blocking is having a positive affect on sales. Another area which underwent a major overhaul is the "personal indulgence zone" comprising the off licence and health and beauty sections. A low wooden barrel vaulted roof gives the impression of a cellar and a new top end to the wine range is displayed on wooden shelves. However, Criado-Perez says he is not happy with the new blue graphics introduced in the health and beauty section and that they will be replaced. The tills are tailored to the store's mixed range of customers. Express tills provide a quick in and out service for office workers using the food to go section, while larger tills cater for the trolley shoppers who live locally. Beyond the tills is a browser section. Criado-Perez believes many retailers neglect this area and as a result it is often an eyesore. He says an integrated approach has been taken so that tobacco, news and magazines, soft drinks and snacks are together in a single, uncluttered look. Criado-Perez says that while some aspects of the new look at St Katharine Docks, such as the colour scheme and the fruit and veg section, will be rolled out to all stores, other aspects such as the fresh to go section will only be introduced in a number of suitable locations, and other parts of the refit are still considered as experimental or are still not finalised. He also says that the £2m price tag and 10-week shutdown while the work was carried out were exceptional. He adds: "It cost much more than it would normally because everything was done for the first time, and a lot of the equipment was specially made. If we roll these things out to other stores the cost will be much less." Fixtures and fittings: Opening hours: 7.30 am to 10 pm, Monday-Saturday. 11 am to 5 pm Sunday Size: 17 000 sq ft Cost of refit: £2m Parking: 120 cars {{SPOTLIGHT }}

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