2020 Vision: A Look at Hannaford's New Prototype Store

It had been more than a decade since Hannaford Supermarkets introduced a new prototype concept when officials gathered in 2014 to begin plotting the retailer’s next generation of stores.

Although the Scarborough, Maine-based regional retailer had established leadership in fresh food quality and everyday low pricing well ahead of industry trends, internal research revealed consumer shopping and eating habits had also changed. Organic and natural products had gone mainstream; shoppers increasingly valued local food; and an overarching demand for convenience was prompting people to look for unique and ready-to-eat foods and shop from their homes more often. An explosion in social media in the meantime imparted a new dynamic onto gathering places such as retail stores, requiring them to be welcoming, fun and aware.

Hannaford’s plan to address these trends—an initiative known internally as Project 2020—came to a moment of fruition in June 2016, when Hannaford debuted a new concept store in Bedford, N.H. Elements and decor from the Bedford store have since informed the look and feel of additional new Hannaford stores while providing a blueprint for renovations to the retailer’s existing fleet.

Though elements of the 2020 prototype were tested in various Hannaford locations, the company selected Bedford to bring them together, in part because the building’s 68,000-square-foot space and high ceilings provided an ideal blank canvas, according to Tom Hencken, VP and director of design for api(+), the Tampa, Fla.-based multidisciplinary design firm that prevailed in a competition to lead the new store’s design.

Hannaford typically doesn’t build stores this big; the Bedford unit was acquired from then-rival Stop & Shop, which had exited the Bedford market amid intense competition. Ironically, Hannaford and Stop & Shop would become sister chains only a month after Hannaford opened in Bedford when their respective parent companies, Delhaize and Ahold, merged.

Central to the store’s presentation is a massive bank of prepared-food stations providing shoppers access to made-to-order foods such as burritos, stir-fry, pizza, gourmet grilled cheese, custom salads and sandwiches, and other offerings that shoppers can take out or enjoy in an adjoining Cafe. Organized by custom overhead graphics and big menu boards, and introducing a range of new items previously unavailable at Hannaford, shoppers can’t miss the Hannaford Kitchen.

“You’re introduced to it as you walk in the main entry,” Hencken says. “Then you see it again as you’re shopping. Then, as you finish your shopping, you have to kind of walk by it. So it’s got great exposure within the store.”

While previous Hannaford prototypes used live trees in the produce section to provide ambiance and an emphasis on freshness, the new unit replaced them with overhanging umbrellas featuring a whimsical design intended to recall the chain’s heritage as a produce stand, which also improved flow, company officials said. A peninsula providing a stage for in-store produce preparation by “prodistas” was another new addition.

“Typically, the produce prep area is tucked away behind a wall someplace. We did a little peninsula out into the space where there’s folks that are there either preparing the produce for display or actually cutting up value-added produce,” Hencken says. “Having access to the customer helps really to make the produce shopping a lot better. Produce has always been a halo department for Hannaford, and we really wanted to build on that.”

In another change from previous generations of Hannaford stores, the meat and seafood departments were relocated to be adjacent to produce, giving shoppers the opportunity they wanted to tackle all their fresh shopping at the beginning of their trip.

New excitement in center store comes through integrated natural and organic food sets and a wider selection and new merchandising for beer and wine, including a chilled beer cave, 50 beers on tap and a 900-bottle wine offering staffed by an in-store sommelier.

Hencken describes the design feel as “vibrant but relaxed,” using combinations of bright accents and wood floors; modern graphics rendered on plywood backing; and new messaging (“Loving Local Since 1883”) reminding shoppers of Hannaford’s long heritage, and its eye on its what’s hot.