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Reid's Fine Foods
Founded in 1928 by J. Arthur Reid, Reid’s Fine Foods was a Charlotte, North Carolina, tradition. It offered a rare combination of food and services to satisfy a variety of tastes.
When owners Chuck and Pam Richards decided to fill a void in the marketplace and open a store downtown, they chose Shook Kelley as their design and marketing consultant.
As the first grocer to be located downtown in more than 50 years, Reid’s faced some unique challenges. With only about 7,000 residents living downtown, the store needed to attract non-traditional customers in order to succeed. Reid’s customers were broken into two groups: downtown workers who frequent the market at lunch, and people who live downtown and buy all their groceries from the store. Shook Kelley broke the space into two parts: the traditional grocery aisles, dairy and meat departments, and a 50-seat indoor café that included a wine bar.
The first grocer to be located downtown in more than 50 years
The interior architecture, design and environmental signage for Reid’s Fine Foods reflected the attributes of an old-time store and an upscale market all at once. Finishes were raw, with mixed use of metal and stained concrete. A 400-square-foot mural spanned the back wall, pulling customers visually and physically deeper into the space. One of Reid’s most unique features was its location. The store was situated on the ground floor of a parking deck alongside a trolley and lightrail stop. A significant challenge was the need to route complex engineering systems through the multiple stories of the parking facility. Other design challenges included a limited budget, the need to link the client’s name and decades-old reputation of customer service to uptown’s urban audience, and the desire to create a comfortable, friendly environment in what may otherwise have been perceived as a rather odd place to go grocery shopping.
When owners Chuck and Pam Richards decided to fill a void in the marketplace and open a store downtown, they chose Shook Kelley as their design and marketing consultant.
As the first grocer to be located downtown in more than 50 years, Reid’s faced some unique challenges. With only about 7,000 residents living downtown, the store needed to attract non-traditional customers in order to succeed. Reid’s customers were broken into two groups: downtown workers who frequent the market at lunch, and people who live downtown and buy all their groceries from the store. Shook Kelley broke the space into two parts: the traditional grocery aisles, dairy and meat departments, and a 50-seat indoor café that included a wine bar.
The first grocer to be located downtown in more than 50 years
The interior architecture, design and environmental signage for Reid’s Fine Foods reflected the attributes of an old-time store and an upscale market all at once. Finishes were raw, with mixed use of metal and stained concrete. A 400-square-foot mural spanned the back wall, pulling customers visually and physically deeper into the space. One of Reid’s most unique features was its location. The store was situated on the ground floor of a parking deck alongside a trolley and lightrail stop. A significant challenge was the need to route complex engineering systems through the multiple stories of the parking facility. Other design challenges included a limited budget, the need to link the client’s name and decades-old reputation of customer service to uptown’s urban audience, and the desire to create a comfortable, friendly environment in what may otherwise have been perceived as a rather odd place to go grocery shopping.