Market ambience is at the heart of supermarket design at the moment, but Dutch grocery giant Albert Heijn takes the idea and runs with it.

The ‘next generation’ model from Dutch grocery giant Albert Heijn, owned by Ahold, takes the idea of a market ambience and runs with it.

Throughout the newly opened store, in Eindhoven, there are manned service stations that are intended to act as ‘islands’ for shoppers as they make their way around the store.

The store experience is also intended to promote omnichannel thinking, and includes everything from click-and-collect to mobile self-scanning and interactive displays.

That said, it is the market-style islands that are the star of this food show and they give the interior a very strong identity and a tangible way of communicating with shoppers.

Ahold worked with Dutch agency Claessens Erdmann and Stockholm-based design consultancy BLINK to create the interior and even the external pick up point has a Scandinavian cool about it.