Food is King

February 18, 2014 – Food has always been an important component of retail destinations. Take your local shopping center for one you have the grocery store, a coffee shop and maybe even a small eatery. In the shopping mall you have the food court. What i’m saying is that in the age of smartphones, food components are gaining prominence, importance, and, as it takes on a more dominant role in the success of retail destinations, it also is going more upscale.

The supermarket is sprucing up because shoppers want to have a special experience when they step into a store. Fresh market and whole foods highlight our sensory relationship with food, enticing us with heightened visual, tactile and taste presentations. In addition to sprucing up, they are breaking out of the supermarket shell and moving up to co-anchor shopping malls. Consider recent developments in south florida malls: fresh market opened in the falls and whole foods will co-anchor the forthcoming palm beach outlet shops. Whereas trader joes, a quirky, specialty grocer, known for exceptional customer service, opened their first south florida store in pinecrest. A second store is under construction in east boca raton, set to open in a couple months, but im sure their growth will continue rapidly in the tri-county market. The combination of size, price, store brands for its products and customer service creates a unified experience that makes going to trader joe’s an experience all its own.

And the good old food court at the mall? Expect to see it go upscale, if you havent already. Food courts are going to evolve into food halls or even artisan halls. Been to new york lately? On a former concourse of the plaza hotel, the hotel now has created a food court -to use the traditional generic term – except that it is a highly curated food court where each food stand serves freshly prepared, distinguishable food with a touch of gourmet in it. Even locally weve seen the town center at boca raton transform their food area into the cafes at boca which includes tossed (a made-to order salad bar( and earl of sandwhich. The grease filled, fast-food food court is a thing of the past.