The partnership between Whole Foods Market Inc. and the design and shopfitting company Schweitzer represents a major strategic move in urban grocery retail. This collaboration centers on the development and realization of a brand-new, flexible store format: the Whole Foods Market Daily Shop.

The first prototype store officially opened its doors on September 18, 2024, in Manhattan, New York City. Current locations tied to this format include Third Avenue, 14th Street, 50th Street Hell’s Kitchen. More openings are scheduled for 2026 in One Dag Plaza, Brooklyn Grand Street, and Hoboken Washington Street.

The Scope: Targeting the Quick-Shop Consumer

The new Daily Shop format aims to be the "go-to neighborhood market". These quick-shop stores range between 7,000 and 14,000 square feet in sales area, providing a convenient option for weekly essentials, quick stops to acquire ingredients to complete a meal, and grab-and-go meals and snacks. The entire product offer is based on an all-organic selection.

The targeted product offer includes everything from fruit and vegetables, fresh bread, dairy, and frozen products, over easy meals and snacks, to beauty products and flowers.

Schweitzer and its sister agency Interstore oversee both the development of the store concept and the fit out of the actual markets.
The project also involves the introduction of custom-made refrigeration, produced in our own production sites in Italy. This state-of-the-art cooling technology allows display cases and counters to be quickly and easily connected and removed without affecting the rest of the circuit. Furthermore, 90% of the refrigeration furniture can be connected to a Waterloop refrigeration system.

The cooling units have been custom-made for and designed together with our client, both to achieve an impeccable product presentation and apt to fit all the store’s requirements, also for future rollouts.

The goal of the store concept was to provide our client with a flexible space, easily and rapidly adaptable to changing seasons, trends and consumer needs. Hence, the development of a design concept that is based upon achieving the maximum output with a minimum input in terms of material usage.

The color palette plays with the client’s corporate colors green and white as well as the graphics on the walls support the friendly and approachable look and feel of the store. With the substance of the space basically unchanged, brick walls and wooden elements in their simplicity emphasize the successful product presentation. The whole store concept aims at making the product the king.

The lighting concept, elaborated with our partner Imoon, works with spotlights accentuating selected products and providing them with a bigger stage to catch the customer’s attention.

This new store format for daily shopping features a targeted product offer with everything from fruit and vegetables, fresh bread, dairy and frozen products, over easy meals and snacks to beauty products and flowers. The go-to neighborhood market for the quick stop on the way home or the weekly grocery shopping trip.

You can download your copy of our booklet here.