Scope

Renee and her husband were initially residential clients of Approach Architects. It was during one of our design meetings that Renee asked if we would be interested in helping her and her business partner Carolyn design and plan their new gourmet food store. The new store was to be located in downtown Newburyport at the Tannery, a historic brick building which is home to a variety of fine shops and restaurants. The space they leased was previously a studio and gallery for a local glass blower. The program for the new store was to include a kitchen area, prepared foods area, cheese case, meat case, olive bar, slicing area, beverage cooler, merchandising freezer, office, cashier area, walk-in freezer, walk-in cooler, dishwashing area and merchandising area.

Our Approach

Our design goal was to create an open market feel within the new store. We kept as much of the store area visible to the customer. For instance, we staggered the display cases and used lower counters in between them to provide the customer with a view of the prep and slicing areas behind the cases. Low metro shelves were located in the retail area, teaming with good s and products. These shelving units not only displayed product, but helped to organize the interior circulation of the store and to create view corridors to the display cases.

Another major offering of the store was their prepared foods selection. We felt that the best way for the customer to learn of these offerings was to actually watch them be prepared by the chef. To this end, we located the kitchen area immediately adjacent to the retail area and separated the two with a wall that had large openings. These openings allow the chef to interact with store customers and for the customers to watch the chef as he prepares the days offerings.

To complete the look and feel of the space, we utilized the existing textures of the space for our finish palette. The concrete floor was left natural and simply painted and the exposed timber frame ceiling and duct runs remained exposed while the masonry exterior walls were left bare.