Giant Eagle Grocery
Building Type: Commercial Retail

Giant Eagle is a large supermarket chain located in the mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. Supermarket News ranked Giant Eagle number 22 in the 2007 “Top 75 North American Food Retailers”. Each store offers as many as 24 different departments to service loyal customers.

Objective
Design a facility that did not look or feel like a traditional grocery store; cut operational costs compared to existing Giant Eagle locations and enhance the shopping experience of valued customers.

Products Used

Solution
Part of this process was to bring in as much natural light as possible to this 88,000 square foot facility to allow electric lighting to be displaced during daylight hours. With assistance from Sola-Design, Solatube International Inc.’s mid-Atlantic commercial affiliate, a daylighting design strategy was created utilizing Solatube Daylighting Systems and exterior wall windows. The reliable distribution of natural light provides perfect color rendition, making products more appealing and making the store feel brighter, cleaner and more comfortable for shoppers.

Testimonial
“The reaction from our customers has been overwhelmingly positive. The daylight has placed shoppers in an elevated mood state which has led to a more enjoyable shopping experience. We have seen studies that stated that a shopper whom had a more pleasurable shopping experience tends to spend $9.24 more than customers who had an average or below average visit. If we had the chance to start over and re-design our facility we would have pushed the store to the max as far as Solatube Daylighting Systems go with upwards of 600 plus on the sales floor, in offices, in prep rooms and in the back room. As it stands now, we may potentially pay less or be equal to the cost of our electrical bill for this month compared to our old location, which is considerably smaller.”

Marc McKillop
Independant Owner