|
|
Article: The big squeeze: the shrinking of the back room is a challenge for retailers, who need to pack more products and operations into a much smaller area.(EQUIPMENT, DESIGN & OPERATIONS)
- Article from:
- Grocery Headquarters
- Article date:
- May 1, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 MacFadden Communications Group LLC. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
The laws of physics teach that in a three-dimensional world there can be no front without a back. However, if supermarket executives have their way, the grocery store could soon become the first example of such an unnatural dimensional phenomenon.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
In the never-ending search for more selling-floor space coupled with the increasing costs of real estate and construction, store planners have been shrinking the back room in favor of increasing the front of the supermarket. Obviously, Einstein, Newton and Hawking have never designed supermarkets.
The supermarket's loss of back room space has set up a competition of sorts for ...