Please review the case study and summarize it .

Venture into Sobeys latest Urban Fresh grocery store in downtown Toronto and your senses are set ablaze. Rows and rows of colourful, local, and organic produce and fragrant, fresh meals are set against a backdrop of contemporary design elements that give the space a high-end, gourmet shop feel.

Our shoppers are foodies and they like to experiment with food, so we give them a lot to get excited about, says Mary Dalimonte, general manager, Fresh Service Format for Sobeys.

With a diverse selection of gourmet and grocery item staples, the 20 000-square-foot store, located at the bottom of a city-centre condo, maximizes space with the use of vertical merchandizing and smaller-scale packaging. This store caters to a four- to five-block radius of shoppers who wont be buying the ten-pound bag of potatoes, says Dalimonte. They are condo dwellersmostly singles or coupleswho dont have a lot of space to store food. Even the grocery carts are smaller. This is the ultimate urban grocery shopper cart with a place to put your purse and your coffee, she adds.

But a lack of space doesnt limit the variety of food offerings by any means. The Urban Fresh store features an extensive salad bar, a sushi section, a made-to-order pizza and pasta component, numerous prepared meals to go, as well as a caf offering gourmet coffees with a selection of tables and chairs to enjoy them. We want this to be our customers place to come for a coffee on a Sunday, so we purposely put the chairs and tables facing the window. Even the benches outside face out to the street so our customers can people-watchits really meant to be a neighbourhood destination, says Dalimonte. The space also fits a substantial deli, butcher, and fish counter, complete with a fishmonger who offers samples and suggestions for dinner options. Most people dont know what theyre making tonight for dinner so we make it easy for them, she says.

While the supermarket giant opened the first of its smaller-scale urban grocery stores several years ago in Toronto, the model has evolved into what is now a chic, European-style food destination with a focus on freshness and style. This is made apparent from the blades of grass painted on the storefront windows and potted grass throughout the store to the hand-cut green wallpaper complete with tree motifs that expertly camouflage the condos otherwise unsightly building structure. The floors are the original concrete, but they are buffed and tinted black to provide the urban feel.

The stores focal point, however, is a giant chandelier in a rotunda that will be incorporated into the new format Urban Fresh stores going forward. The chandelier inspired the contemporary yet classic feel of the store. There really is a mix of traditional and contemporary going on here, says designer Charlane Codner, partner/VP creative services for Fish Out of Water. A second rotunda with lights over the caf creates another zone in the store, she adds.

Further exemplifying the classic feel are custom-made aisle ends made of painted mediumdensity fibreboard, which resemble armoires that could easily pass for the ones found in someones living space. Even the use of metro shelving to hold product throughout the store, as opposed to traditional racks, gives the space a contemporary feel that the designers say really plays to the urban customer base.

We also aimed to strike a balance between design and functionality, adds Codner. Case in point: the glass around the meat and seafood areas alleviates cool air flow from hitting the customer, but also features a visually enticing frosted vinyl layer imprinted with the wallpaper motif used throughout the rest of the store.

Even the signage throughout the space veers away from traditional grocery models by featuring a few super-size, vibrant graphics of food as opposed to lots of text. Its subtle and sexy, says Codner. Its food as romance. It has to speak

for itself.

Lighting throughout the store is also used to emphasize the focus on food. Codner says high-intensity discharge lights throughout provide strong ambient light levels while metal halide lights give a punch in select areas.

Dalimonte says customer reaction to the store has been extremely positive. Weve been hearing really good things and those that come to visit that arent from the area say they wish they had one of these stores near them, she says. Customers like the ambience and really appreciate the attention to detail.

From a financial perspective, she says Sobeys is pleased with the performance of the Urban Fresh model so far. With 11 stores in Ontario and two in Alberta, she says the skys the limit when it comes to future expansion. In fact, she says Toronto residents will be very pleased at our next location.