The American classical music composer Charles Ives once said, "Every great inspiration is but an experiment."
Based on the rollout of two new experimental concept stores in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, management at Whole Foods and H.E. Butt's Central Market must have found a little inspiration of their own.
The new Whole Foods has something no other store in the chain has - a full-service spa. And there's more to it, Nona Evans, marketing director for Whole Foods, told the Dallas Morning News.
"No other spa has someone doing your grocery shopping for you while you're getting a spa treatment," she said.
The 4,500-square-foot facility goes by the name Refresh and features all-natural beauty and wellness treatments including body scrubs and wraps. The spa is on the second floor of the store and patrons can have tea or lunch while lounging on the private balcony.
The spa also features a retail shop that sells personal care items, jewelry, bedding, clothing and other items.
"We think we know the lifestyle of our customer," Ms. Evans said.
The new Central Market store has added a number of new features while refining and improving on existing strengths.
Lee Crenshaw, director of perishable procurement at the new Southlake Central Market, said, "We've been learning from our other stores. And this one is the result of sitting down and saying, 'If we could do it all over again, how would we organize the store?'"
Stephen Butt, head of the Central Market division, said the new store is focused on becoming a weekly destination shop.
"We've been studying how people shop us. We have the foodies who love us and others who see us as a special-occasion place to shop a few times a year," he said. "The refinements to the Southlake store, we think, will accelerate the adoption process with shoppers who are more comfortable with a traditional supermarket, making us more of a weekly store."
One of the first things visitors notice are the signs. Outside the store, shoppers are cautioned (tongue firmly planted in cheek) to watch out for foodies crossing. Inside signs warn that said foodies "could smell like fresh baked bread."
The humor that shows up here and elsewhere inside the store is part of Central Market's "mission to celebrate and discover foods," according to Frank Hamlin, marketing director for the business.
"We want people to be comfortable with it," he added.
Aside from the whimsy of its signage, the store features the Central Market Café that serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. The café has outdoor seating for 200, a stage and a playground equipped with a castle and friendly dragon.
In the area of refinements, the expanded wine and cheese departments have been placed in close proximity to one another. Housewares, which are interspersed throughout other Central Market stores, have been consolidated in a single area across from fresh seafood and meat.
Moving over to produce, the company decided to integrate its organic and conventional vegetables and fruit.
"Organic produce is integrated so that customers can see their choices all together," said Mr Crenshaw.
Discussion Questions: What are your thoughts on the new concept stores from Whole Foods and Central Market? Of all the new store formats you've seen in the past couple of years, which ones stand out most?
We're looking for Whole Foods spa to go nationwide, even if it isn't in every store the company operates.
We don't know if it is of any consequence, but we were intrigued by Stephen Butt's mention of the interest the company has gotten from consumers outside of Texas asking H.E. Butt to open a Central Market in their area.
"We find that very encouraging because there are a limited number of Central Market stores that we can build in Texas cities. And the Plano, and now the Southlake, shoppers will help us grow beyond the urban parts of larger cities," he said.