Tesco is one of the world’s great retail success stories. The supermarket chain is Britain’s leading food retailer, with a growing presence in Europe and even further afield.

Food, however, is only part of the product range available to Tesco’s army of shoppers. CDs, videos, personal finance, clothing and many other items all form part of the store’s extensive stocks. All at highly competitive prices.

When Tesco’s design department was given the task of boosting menswear sections within stores, they looked at every detail— from the ground up.
The basic idea was to create an environment that was different from the rest of the retail area. The aim was to give shoppers who entered the section the impression that they were in a High Street retail clothing environment, or a department store, rather than a supermarket.

The flooring would be a key contributor to the overall effect, helping to define each menswear section’s boarders. The choice of flooring would also set the groundwork literally— for the creation of a different atmosphere in this store-within-a-store.
Ultimately, after consideration of various options, the design team opted for one of Amtico’s many natural wood ranges.

“Whatever design was eventually chosen, it had to meet high standards. It would be rolled out across hundreds of Tesco’s UK stores in a major refurbishment and design implementation programme. The challenge was further complicated by the fact that the stores and the menswear sections were not of any uniform size or shape.” said one member of Amtico’s project team. The aesthetic appeal of Amtico’s wood designs was one of the prime reasons for Tesco specifying the material. The designers were determined to achieve a look that was as close as possible to a natural wood finish, but with the versatility and ease of installation that Amtico could offer.

Ease of maintenance was another important factor. Ideally, the designers wanted “zero maintenance”. Natural wood would have placed unnecessary burdens on Tesco’s cleaning routines. Amtico delivered the next best thing: extremely low maintenance requirements and no unusual cleaning routines.

As well as looking good, the flooring would need to be extremely durable. “When you’re looking at footfall of anything between 40,000 and 50,000 people a week, you have to be absolutely confident that the flooring will be able to handle the constant traffic over an extended period of time. The Amtico range has proved itself to be extremely durable over many years now, so Tesco had no worries on that score.” says the Amtico team.

The appeal of Amtico was further strengthened by the fact that Tesco needed a material which offered a versatile range of styles. The flooring needed to be capable of changing in reaction to evolving needs. The original design of a light wood finish, surrounded by a black strip, was later superseded by a design rethink that preferred a dark wood finish.

More than 200 stores have already been rertofitted with Amtico, covering menswear spaces that range from 500 square feet too around 2,000 square feet.

Design: Amtico In-house team
Contractor: Arvin & Sons
Amtico Products: W706E Light Cherry, CLP45 Clipstone Brick, DS11 White.