A new grocery chain is on the horizon for the U.S.
A new grocery chain has been designed by BLINK, the Scandinavian design agency, who has previously worked with international top tier clients such as Marks & Spencer, Albert Heijn, Scandinavian Airlines and Electrolux. The new chain is known as bfresh, and it is making it has been designed specifically for the U.S. market.
BLINK designed this new chain for Ahold USA which employs over 117,000.
BLINK was assigned the task of creating a full solution, including brand strategy, big idea, architecture, merchandising, visual identity and packaging design, as well as communication in physical and digital channels. The assignment was carried out in 2014/2015 and the first two stores are now open in Boston and Fairfield, Conn. bfresh is a new kind of affordable grocery store mixing food hall, restaurant and local convenience with integrated e-commerce.
bfresh grocery store ambience adapts to urban rhythms. Mornings is daylight and breakfast mood, while evenings has a more club-like atmosphere with pumping house music and dimmed down lights.
“In U.S. food retail, one of the fastest growing segments is food-interested, urban value-hunters,” said Saskia de Jongh, head of concept, fresh formats team, Ahold USA. “They are more than willing to buy food online, and are very knowledgeable about food in general: origin, flavor, quality and price. In bfresh we combine great fresh food, smart value and local convenience in new creative ways, which in turn creates value for our customers. The concept is developed for the U.S. market and the stores are about 10,000 sqare feet. Recently, the first two stores opened in Boston and Fairfield, Conn.”
“We consider BLINK a global top name when it comes to retail concept development. They are creative with a Scandinavian twist, but at the same time they create commercially effective solutions. That’s why we invited them to the pitch together with four American and one British agency. We chose to proceed with BLINK because their idea was the most commercially viable and in our opinion something brand new for the U.S. market,” Saskia continued.
“The bfresh concept is rooted in BLINK’s insight that food has become the new fashion and is part of urban culture,” said Richard Kylberg, founder/managing partner, BLINK. “So, bfresh store ambience adapts to urban rhythms and changes slightly according to the time of the day. Mornings is daylight and breakfast mood, while evenings has a more club-like atmosphere with pumping house music and dimmed down lights.”
“We are happy to see that our creative and strategic processes time and time again create value for our customers. And of course, it is extra exciting to work with an international top player such as Ahold USA,” Kylberg continued.
“Internationally, BLINK has an advantage in being a Scandinavian design agency. Partly because Scandinavian design is timeless and constantly up to date, but also because Sweden is one of the most modern countries in the world. This is true for our values, how we think and how new technology is integrated in our everyday lives. Thanks to this, a Swedish boutique design agency such as BLINK can compete with American and British agencies that often are ten times our size,” Kylberg concluded.
