Sharjah Cooperative (UAE)
Wanzl joins forces with Aichinger to create Sharjah Cooperative hypermarket in the newly opened Rahmania Mall
“Sharjah Cooperative is an existing customer of Wanzl Middle East and we presented our ideas for the hypermarket as part of an invitation to tender in order not only to design, but also to hand over the project completely turnkey – including construction work, mechanics, electrics and sanitation, shelves, service counters, lighting, checkout counters, shopping trolleys, shopping baskets, signage and graphics as well as order picking trolleys. We won the project due to our creative design, expertise and approach to the project,” explains Mohit Ahuja, General Manager Wanzl Middle East FZE.
This flagship project in the new mall took six months to plan and design, followed by ten months of implementation. The customer experience is the key to Wanzl’s design concept, which characterises the main areas of the store with product-specific design themes. This creates a unique atmosphere that piques customers’ interest. In line with this approach, the lighting concept is based on separating different areas using different CCT (Correlated Colour Temperature) and lighting levels. The signs for the product areas are written in Arabic and English. Ahuja summarises the idea behind the design concept as follows: “For many customers in this region, the main reason for shopping in a brick-and-mortar store is to see and experience the products in person while enjoying the pleasant and appealing ambience of the store environment.”
Versatile product range with eye-catching design
The fresh food section of the hypermarket, with local and international delicacies, is particularly striking thanks to its size of over 1,000 square metres and the unique product range. As the general contractor, Wanzl took the lead in the design and relied on the expertise of its premium partner Aichinger for its fresh-food counters. Aichinger, the specialist for self-service and staffed refrigerated cabinets and counters, primarily used its innovative products TopSpot MIO+, SIRIUS®3 and MaxxPoint, the hot counter HotMaxx and the service counter CoolMaxx. A clear colour scheme and creative design elements characterise the individual sections and thus facilitate orientation.
With its rich red tones, the meat department stands out with large images of the goods on offer presented on elegant wooden decor. The white 3D lettering “Butchery” appears in the middle of a stylised meat cleaver mounted on a background of black bricks. Products are presented in eye-catching display cabinets and counters stretching over a remarkable length of 17.40 metres. This area adjoins the cheese & deli department. In addition to cheese, customers will also find delicatessen products and fresh cold cuts there. The meandering arrangement of the counter line encourages shoppers to stay longer in the fresh food area and supports impulse buys, while the semicircular elements integrated in the line of counters draw particular attention to special offers and deals. Alternating between self-service shelving and service counters makes it possible to react flexibly to customer footfall, while still being able to offer fresh goods at all times.
Blue tones as the main design colour point towards the fish market, with maritime accents such as anchors, nets, lifebelts and a maritime planking design as the background for the fish department signage. A large selection of fresh fish is optimally presented on ice, and sushi is also available. Shoppers can also purchase lobsters directly from the tank. Opposite the fresh food section, the live cooking stations and grill stations invite you to linger on bar stools in a circular island arrangement. Pizzas, pasta, salads and local Arabic cuisine such as shawarma are offered in a semi-circle for consumption on site or to take away, as well as freshly prepared grilled specialities made from fish, poultry and beef. In the vegetable department, customers immediately notice the blue truck and the smaller brown market carts, fully loaded with fruit and vegetables. Customers feel like they are at a town market where the most delicious goods are traded fresh from the harvest every day. The bakery also attracts visitors with fresh crepes, French-style waffles and sweet Arabian delicacies such as baklava from the patisserie.
The hypermarket also is the ideal port of call for lovers of vegetables and salads with an appetite: A separate salad bar where customers can put together individual salads, and even add a delicious smoothie if they like. Strong green tones on the bar with grasses beneath the counters and ivy trailing above the station give the customer an impression of the naturalness of the goods on offer. Anyone looking for even more healthy food is sure to find something in the wide selection of products in the organic department next door. This section of the hypermarket also has its own hydroponic system in which all kinds of cultivated plants are grown and thrive in water-filled containers.
One of the hypermarket’s design highlights is the display of olives, pickled vegetables and olive oil on a round presentation stand shaped like a large turntable for spices. An impressive olive tree rises majestically in the middle. A tribute to local customs: before meals or on special occasions, hosts like to offer specialities with olives and pickled vegetables. Things get really colourful in the confectionery department. Shelves and ceiling sails in bright colours and images of sweets make one thing clear: this is paradise for candy lovers. The children’s toy department is a real magnet. Colourful trains and even a famous London double-decker bus display toys, books and much more. Children in particular can immerse themselves in a fascinating world full of fun and play.
