-By Joseph Tarnowski

The goose that laid the golden egg can be found in St. Charles, Ill., in the form of single-store operator Blue Goose Super Market. The grocer, in concert with its wholesaler, Eden Prairie, Minn.-based Supervalu, redesigned and relocated the store with the goal of better serving shoppers in the downtown business/residential district, and the strategy is working: Sales are up 25 percent just months after the redesign's unveiling.

The 30,000-square-foot store, moved just a short distance from its previous riverfront location, was designed by Supervalu-owned Design Services Group (DSG) to emphasize old-fashioned service, high-quality perishables, and home meal replacement, including a broad assortment of sushi.

Blue Goose has served the St. Charles area for the past 75 years. It originally sat directly on the banks of the Fox River. Owner Dave Lencioni agreed to move a couple of blocks west when the city of St. Charles disclosed that it wanted to develop multifamily housing all along the riverfront.

Lencioni says strong support from the community raised his comfort level with the move.
"I've known many of my customers since I was a kid stocking shelves," he says. "But the city of St. Charles made it clear that they wanted to keep our store and make it a focal point of their new downtown plan. Their support made the choice to move a lot easier."

The store's new design pays homage to its own history by incorporating some of the distinct design features of its original site. "The tower's sloped rooflines and arched entries were inspired by the old location's original design," says Mike Klein, DSG's lead architect. "The entire design, from the tremendous amount of daylighting and the exposed roof, to the blue standing-seam metal roofing on the towers and the canopy, was designed to give the store a spacious, airy feeling."

DSG and Lencioni designed the interior of the store to recall the historic period when the St. Charles downtown district began to boom in the 1920s and '30s. Design elements include vintage tin ceiling panels, a dyed concrete floor, and old black-and-white photos of the original store.

"The art deco look is being revitalized on the riverfront, and our aim was to make the store fit into this environment," explains DSG creative design supervisor Harry Steen.

Conversely, the lighting is modern. The designers added rows of large windows to let in natural light, and installed high-contrast spot lighting in various departments to highlight food presentation.