The evolution of the grocer’s in-store environments is gathering pace. John Ryan reports from Thetford and Bishop’s Stortford.

When the phrase ‘it’s a journey’ is used at present, it usually carries with it the implication that things have not been great and a gradual movement is now being made towards improving matters.

This may well be the case at Tesco, which came under fire for having characterless interiors that smack more of processing shoppers than providing them with any real sense of experience.

Now, however, things are changing – and quickly, apparently.

In April, there was a flurry of media comment about the appearance of a Tesco trial store in Hertford that featured wood cladding around some of its perimeter and mid-shop fixturing and the word ‘hello’ at the entrance.

There was some carping about being over-friendly in the choice of this word, but it’s hard to see how it might have been done otherwise and sometimes if change is needed, it is best to plunge in with both feet.

Nevertheless, this is a ‘journey’ and much of what was on view in Hertford has now been rolled out in other stores.

Of these, Dudley, an Extra hypermarket store, merits a mention, but to get a real sense of the direction of travel for this particular voyage, supermarket watchers should head for Bishop’s Stortford in Hertfordshire and Thetford in Norfolk, which have been trading in their current form for a little over a month and three weeks respectively.

Better and brighter

Approach either of the stores (both are on the edge of the towns) and there can be little doubt that you are about to see something new. Both feature large mobile billboards stating: “Your better, brighter store is now open.” The message is coupled with smaller graphics featuring a smiling individual and the legend: “Welcome to your new look store. Thanks for your patience.” This is the new, user-friendly Tesco where nothing, it seems, is too much trouble.

And then you arrive at the car park. “Externally, the Thetford store is quite typical,” says Tesco director of design and formats Simon Threadkell. The same is true of the Bishop’s Stortford store and if there is a single message that cannot be avoided as you find a parking space, it is click-and-collect. It is everywhere, from the large banner across the front of the store, alongside a graphic informing customers ‘how QR codes work…’, to the wood-framed shopping trolley shelters around the car park.

Heading for the lobby, the same ‘hello’ motif that adorned the Hertford entrance is on show in Thetford and Bishop’s Stortford. In Bishop’s Stortford, however, pass beyond this point and things change. As in the great majority of supermarkets, the initial vista is of a long row of checkouts to the right and ahead there is the fruit and veg area. The difference from many other Tesco branches is, as Threadkell says: “Low-level fresh produce units are at the entrance, moving to fresh food at the back.” The translation for this is that it is much easier to see across this part of the store than in other branches and to get to grips with where you need to be to complete a shop with minimum fuss.

Warming up

In keeping with the principle of “warming up” the in-store environment that was such a talking point in Hertford, there is a lot of wood cladding on view. Whether it’s the long mid-shop gondola, or the smaller promotional units towards the front of the department, wooden planking, collectively reminiscent of the boxes in which fresh fruit used to be transported, is everywhere.

The wood is adorned with black strips bearing the words ‘quality and freshness every day’. At high level, the fruit and veg department perimeter is apple green, picking up on a palette that was first seen at the Tooley Street convenience store in London last year.

And so on to the fresh food counters that run along the back of the shop. In both Thetford and Bishop’s Stortford, the interior warming-up process looks full-blown, with wooden slats providing a backdrop for the various counters, ranging from freshly baked, to fresh food counters (meat, cheese and the like).

There are also freestanding wooden display units for speciality breads. Anyone who has been into one of the newer Marks & Spencer food halls might be forgiven for thinking they have seen these before. There is also a sense that this part of the new look for Tesco owes a fair amount to what has been done at Sainsbury’s. This is probably immaterial, however. The task is to win shoppers’ hearts, minds and wallets, and you can’t shop two supermarkets at once.

As long as the job of providing a friendlier environment is done, therefore, then this version of the Tesco interior is likely to find favour when set against what has  gone before.

Health check

There are other elements in both stores that are different from what Tesco shoppers might be used to, not least the overwhelmingly friendly staff. But for anyone who makes it past the fresh area of the shop, the feature most likely to prove eye-catching is the health and beauty department.

Aside from the fact that this consists of aisles with backlit proprietary branded units, this looks almost as if you have entered some kind of Continental pharmacy. This is particularly the case in Thetford. Threadkell notes: “Thetford is a scaled-down version of Dudley. It’s about delivering a new Extra environment and feel in a superstore.” It is worth noting that another branded cosmetic and beauty trial is underway in Tescotown, aka Cheshunt. Called The Beauty Spot and featuring purple and gold as the highlight colours, this is an altogether more glamorous in-store area and shows, if nothing else, that little is set in stone as far as the shape that future Tesco interiors will take is concerned.

All of which is perhaps the point. There are a lot of elements being tested that may or may not be adopted more generally and it seems reasonable to assume that more, rather than less, of what is on view will be used. These are trial interiors at a fairly advanced state of development and it seems ages since the beginning of the year when Tesco was having as tough a time for its in-store act as for its failure to deliver on sales expectations.

As a journey, therefore, Tesco looks as if it may be on the verge of pausing as the desired destination hoves into sight. That said, it is in the nature of food retailing that nothing is for ever and that “to travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive”, as Robert Louis Stevenson once remarked.

Store facts

Nature of the stores “Warmer” and a development from the Hertford pilot

Store highlights Lower equipment levels in the fresh areas and the beauty aisles

Roll-out potential High