Dutch superstore shops with CDG

Conran Design Group has created six-figure interiors, branding and external landscaping for Holland’s first food and non-food supermarket, Albert Heijn XL, part of Dutch retail giant Ahold.

The 4500m2 superstore opened at the end of last week in Arnhem. It sells clothes, health and beauty products, videos, holiday booking facilities and take-away food alongside traditional food items.

The consultancy has created graphics, signage, interiors and external lighting and furniture for the store.

It has also updated the Albert Heijn identity with the addition of the XL roundel, according to CDG creative director David Chaloner, who is leading the project.

The store’s interiors are designed to make shopping a pleasurable experience rather than a necessary task to attract a wider selection of customers, he says.

They challenge the traditional aisle-based planning of supermarkets with a format defined instead by sensory zones. These include home entertainment, fresh produce, a juice bar, a cook shop, a sommelier, a bakery and café, among others.

A second XL store is planned and CDG has started external landscaping work on site.

The consultancy won the project following a credentials pitch. A shortlist of five consultancies was reduced to a head-to-head pitch against an unnamed group, according to Chaloner.