As the recession has halted a number of suburban housing developments, grocers have lost a prime market for expansion. So instead, big supermarket chains are venturing into vast uncharted cities like Washington DC to open new stores.

The result is more “urban format” stores that take on the design challenge of fitting seamlessly into dense, pedestrian heavy locations.

“The Georgetown Safeway is a good example of how that company’s approach has changed. The store is under construction on the site of an older 45,000 square foot Safeway store with parking in front. The new 65,000 square foot store, geared to what Safeway calls the urban “lifestyle” market, is raised up a level with parking below. Small retail shops line the street and hide the parking.”
- From New Urban News

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