WEST DES MOINES, Iowa -- While often hailed for the environmental friendliness of its convenience store design, Kum & Go's current store design also brings a number of other enviable aspects to the forefront, from traffic flow and sightlines to restroom convenience and an enhanced foodservice offer.
About 45% larger than the former footprint with a huge foodservice expansion, the newest stores are part of Kum & Go's grand plan to capture customer loyalty and create a model that cannot be replicated.
The development of Kum & Go's latest format began with the employees. The company polled store associates, general managers and category managers about what features they would like to see in the store design. Based on that feedback, the company built a mock-up in a Des Moines warehouse, complete with cooler doors, equipment and plywood counters. Next, store associates, supervisors and executive personnel toured the mockup.
"It was a great learning for us to be able to see how everything flows," Niki DePhillips, vice president of real estate, told CSP Daily News. "What is the spacing between the cash wrap and the shelving, and how big does the coffee island really need to be? You can measure the equipment, but to really get the feel from a customers' and associates' standpoint, it really helps to build it."
Based on additional feedback, DePhillips' team tweaked the design and had everyone return for a final say.
The end product is a store just under 5,000 square feet--compared to the former Kum & Go average of 3,400--complete with an in-house kitchen. This is serving up offerings from Kum & Go's new Go Fresh Market foodservice program: freshly made pizza, cold and hot sandwiches, subs, wraps and baked goods. The Go Fresh Market program will be included with all new and remodeled Kum & Go sites that have full-service kitchens.
Click here for a closer look at the foodservice offer on CSPTV.
The site also features a larger and separated coffee and fountain area for better traffic flow, more cooler doors and a checkout moved from the side to the center of the store. "The associate can see everything that's going on," said DePhillips. Perhaps most important, "The first thing you see when you walk in the store is the store associate, that friendly face, so we're able to greet them right away."
Then there is the "big C" portion of the design: building the customer's needs into the format. Kum & Go added open-air coolers for milk to make grab-and-go easy. It made room for more cups and lids at the coffee bar and fountain so they ran out less often, and so associates could refill them more easily. In addition, thanks to customer input, the restrooms are entirely touch-free. Entry doors have been replaced by long, twisting hallways and sensor-driven sinks, toilets and hand dryers are standard.
See the January issue of CSP magazine for more on Kum & Go's newest store design and strategy focus.
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