Lakeview Grocery New Orleans
Established as a linchpin in the renaissance of a neighborhood struggling to recover from the devastation wreaked by Hurricane Katrina, the stunning and radically remodeled Lakeview Grocery in New Orleans has emerged as a beacon of local pride shone by a special community-focused grocer.
A venture of Robért Resources LLC, the entity that also operates the well-known Robért Fresh Markets, the store opened last October and occupies the former site of Lakeview Fine Foods, which had been vacant for five years. According to designer King Retail Solutions (KRS), which had an overarching goal of conveying trust and basic honest value — attributes that were long a cornerstone of the neighborhood, and the metaphorical glue that held people together during the tenuous time of Hurricane Katrina — the entire interior space required demolition as a result of the severe storm damage sustained by the existing market, leaving only the four exterior walls. The project scope included reimagining a new brand and food experience uniquely suited to the residents of the recovering neighborhood.The resulting store required all-new store planning, outfitting, design and implementation, which included several unique features that didn't exist before, the attached, locally inspired Harrison Cove in-store café and the fresh food service area in particular.
Long before the design phase, KRS dug deep into customer preferences via focus groups regarding shopping habits and what an “ideal shopping experience” would comprise. Key findings included a non-racetrack-like, “friendly and fun” store design that offered “room to move” through an easy-to-shop floor plan that facilitated easy in-and-out shopping, along with an organized layout for “simple convenience” that also incorporated unexpected discoveries to “surprise us!”
KRS set out to design a store that was relevant to the neighborhood.The new space would look local and familiar, providing for simple, basic needs, yet incorporate modern conveniences such as updated service areas and a new café.
Making the store fit within the existing footprint was among KRS' biggest challenges, not including the new service areas and café, which weren't part of the original space.The solution was found in a building addition, along with borrowing some of the existing space, resulting in a design that clearly created a separation of space and brand for the exterior entry, and an enhanced visual presence for both the supermarket and café areas.
Heeding a tip from focus group feedback, KRS designed the store with destination areas as visual focal points to generate unexpected discoveries and encourage exploration in departments such as deli, liquors and the café, against the backdrop of a simple, open layout that seamlessly provides for basic daily needs.
Promotional and seasonal display of fresh products sets the tone upon entry to the store, whose lighting design concept aims to convey a retro supermarket feel engineered to today's standards and offering luminescent, glare-free shopping. Further, decorative and accent lighting not only provides “visual flavor,” but also adds sparkle to service area displays.
Simple, affordable building materials, such as stained plywood and sealed concrete, convey an honest, value persona, while hand-lettered signs playfully communicate local freshness with tongue-in-cheek humor and imagery to make the shopping experience familiar and fun by adding a personalized, nostalgic touch. Further, nautical-inspired signage in the café signifies the area's heritage adjacent to Lake Ponchartrain.
To reflect the retro motif, refrigerator-white case cladding was used, contrasted with glossy black cart guards. Specialty shelving was constructed out of a custom wood finish for the liquor department, while black gondolas with round-outs were used in the premium/local merchandise areas, along with oyster-white fixtures for general merchandise displays.
All told, the project delivered splendidly on its original expectations, which collectively contributed to a highly successful community-based store that has received an overwhelmingly positive response.