According to rkd retail/iQ, the firm responsible for the design for Ole’, “Rather than over extend and risk the Ole’ brand, CRV agreed that it was time to develop a new format that could realize the broader opportunities and keep key new sites within the CRV family.” rkd retail/iQ were charged with designing the new brand, blt* supermarket, shown here.

rkd retail/iQ explains the name. ‘blt*, an acronym for the China Resources service mark, “better life together” was created as a new-to-the-market format to be rolled out in Hong Kong and tier 1 and tier 2 cities in China. Although blt* will be brand consistent across both markets, the new segmented format will play different roles in each market. In Hong Kong, blt* will assume a CRC shop (+) position in terms of price and promotion within the consistent environmental design while in China, blt* will follow an Ole’ (-) positioning. Both positioned formats will share a core range of merchandise and services that will be better than the competition with a clear price message.” The blt* supermarket shown here is located in KKmall in Shenzhen and is 3,234 m2 (34,810 sq.ft.).

Dramatic architecture and the bright, green signature color beckon mall customers into the space. Once inside, the store plan is designed to present merchandise categories in a way that allows for a variety of shopping patterns – from the quick stop to pick up a few items, to circulation throughout the store for the weekly shopping. Every shopper had to be able to easily meet his or her own needs.

retail/iQ was responsible for the name generation, brand and environmental graphics, store planning and design and construction documents and the firm is currently rolling out blt* supermarkets across multiple locations in Hong Kong and China.