PROJECT OVERVIEW
During my time as an intern with the Meijer Properties team, I was able to design and render a hypothetical market format store located in Traverse City, Michigan.
LOCATION
This market format store would be in a central, downtown location between two current Meijer Supercenters.
This store would reside in the Clinch Park area of TC, which lies in the Downtown Neighborhood bordered by the Grand Traverse Bay.
RESEARCH INSIGHTS
I found three key insights from looking at the area:
MOODBOARD
Creating a moodboard helped me realize that I should include teal tones and light wood for the bay, pops of red for the cherries, and "touristy" fonts and signage.
With help from the Properties team, I consolidated my ideas into a final materials, furniture, and fonts list.
Fonts were supplied by Meijer, but wall/flooring finishes and furniture were fair game to explore. I chose furniture from Grand Rapids Chair Company® to stay consistent with Meijer's history.
SOLUTION / BRANDING
Final renderings show how the store could potentially look on-location in Traverse City, MI.
The entrance welcomes the shopper and brings in historical photography from the area such as the Park Place Hotel, the ships in the Bay, and the Traverse City woman who baked a thirty pound cherry pie for the President!
I brought in a coffee roastery to the Cafe called Mundos that is specific to the Traverse City area and could be willing to set up shop in the Market.
The Café seating bleeds into the Bakery a bit, which gives the opportunity for a symmetrical graphic that emphasizes the Café's offerings on the right and the bakery, flower shop, and gift shop on the left.
The Flower Shop brings in light wood tones and a pop of blue corrugated metal.
One thing Justin told me to include in the store is a lighthouse, and the wall above the cards gave a really cool opportunity to have it shine right out onto the lettering.
Moving down the aisles to the Dairy Wall, we kept the light wood tones but brought in a more touristy font for the welcome message paired with the farm fresh banner on the left.
Meijer has never brought a wash of color fully along the back wall, but it was something I wanted to explore. We ended up bringing this all the way across the wall and melting the color into a 2D, hand-painted map of the area.
Turning the corner into the beverage aisle, we decided to bring in more of a red and white color palette.
We brought this color palette into the produce area as well and incorporated some more Traverse City specific signage.
In order to maintain readability upon entrance, we kept the front of the "Fresh Local Value" lettering white but brought that pop of red onto the backside.
The restrooms keep this color palette as well and brings a wash of color to the restrooms area as well.
I thought it would be a fun idea to have a large, hand-painted mural above the benches around the restroom to provide a cool photo opportunity for those waiting for their family or friends to leave the restroom.
In the Wine area, I wanted to touch on the 45th Parallel in which Traverse City sits. Other cities on this parallel include Piedmont in Italy and Bordeaux in France, so Traverse City is known for their wine. Signage throughout the aisles will elaborate on this for shoppers who aren't familiar with the fact!
The Beer Pit is a play on words in itself (like a cherry pit!) but also includes a marquee style font and arrow similar to those found throughout downtown TC. Breweries exclusive to TC and the surrounding area can be found inside.
