r/CrappyDesign • u/pdoxr9 oww my eyes • 5d ago
The shopping carts cannot move through the aisle due to the pole.
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u/metisdesigns 5d ago
I used to do retail design, and that is one of the busts we had to be mindful of.
Occasionally, in a really horrible retrofit, we would be told to do that to meed asile density goals. It is meeting one design metric at the expense of design requirement. It is bad design.
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u/flodahoe 3d ago
I also used to do retail design and I refused to make any aisle spacing under 36". I told the merch teams to find a solution on their end instead because I'm not budging on this. During leadership approval presentations I just said the aisle is at its minimum dimension and we moved on.
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u/Boris-Lip 5d ago
It almost fits here. They could have just got some slightly smaller carts.
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u/metisdesigns 5d ago
No, those carts are very standard, while it seems like an easy change to get a different cart, cart size is driven by a host of other considerations, not the least of which is company wide purchasing.
Even in that crappy location, 99% of the store is almost certainly designed to accommodate those default carts and changing size isnt a good decision.
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u/DigbyChickenZone 5d ago
So the store should have bought a new fleet of carts for one aisle?
What about customers browsing in wheelchairs?
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u/icestep 5d ago
I think the better option would have been shallower racks and stacking items only four deep instead of six or whatever. Means more work restocking shelves more frequently, but no other change.
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u/metisdesigns 5d ago
Having one asile have non-standard shelving means that spare hardware for that shorter stock needs to be maintained as the store is remerchandized. That is a storage and replacement parts nightmare.
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u/icestep 5d ago
I don't really know enough about rack hardware or store operations to make super informed comments on how that all works in practice, all I know is the store we have in town uses different sized shelving in some aisles for kinda similar reasons and they seem do be handling it just fine.
But I am also pretty sure they don't have to adhere to a corporate-wide standard aisle layout (which I guess could be a factor here too, and limit what that store is actually able to do about this situation).
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u/metisdesigns 5d ago
There are absolutely different racking options and widths, but typically those are used across multiple sections of similar elements.
e.g. Shallower shelves are used throughout pharmacy and toiletries where they are a lot of smaller packages, and deeper are used in the rest of the store. That means that they are 2 sets of hardware to track, and multiple asiles worth of hardware, so that odds are if asile 17 happens to be less dense, the extra shelves from it can go on asile 22 that is more dense this restock.
If you have only one asile divergent, you need to store the max # of shelves somewhere when it's only using the min number. You also have less available spares if one happens to break.
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u/general0ne 5d ago
You have to run straight at the pole with the cart to get past it. Just like getting onto Platform 9 3/4.
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u/IgamarUrbytes 5d ago
That’s where all the discontinued stuff lives on, in Shopping Centre 9 3/4.
I hope there’s Fantales
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u/Extreme_Design6936 4d ago
If you hit it hard enough you'll get to the aisle where they sell the fentanyl.
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u/ohdearitsrichardiii Reddit Orange 5d ago
My grocery store put diapers and other baby stuff in an aisle with a big pole that all the parents with prams couldn't get past. It's a small store where people usually use baskets so the pole didn't bother most people, except parents with prams
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u/AdvancedThinker 5d ago
Hmmm. What would happen if someone just happened to leave 2 full carts on either side of the pole? Like oops, cart stuck me gone.
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u/Blenderx06 5d ago
Some poor minimum wage worker would get extra work while the decision makers remain unaffected.
Best way to get it changed would be to complain to corporate.
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u/panburger_partner 5d ago
Doesn't every grocery store have one aisle like this
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u/DigbyChickenZone 5d ago
...No? I have never seen this before.
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u/farmallnoobies 5d ago
It's pretty common for me to see a pole offset slightly, where there's an extra inch it two on one side so you can still get past but only on one side
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u/Jacktheforkie 5d ago
If I was the designer I’d aim for the posts to be between the shelves, so rather than blocking the aisle it’s only reducing the stock space by a small amount
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u/Delicious_Adeptness9 5d ago
The aisle is so narrow and the ceiling low I thought it was a "supermarket" in Manhattan. And then I saw the Hy-Vee sign hiding in the back.
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u/AgreeablePie *insert among us joke here* 4d ago
I've got two grocery stores near me of the same chain. One has better produce and baked goods but the aisles are packed. Unless it's almost empty it's an absolute pain to deal with.
I go to the other one even though it's further away.
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u/AdobeGardener 4d ago
Our grocery store has one of these. Another aisle has quite the uneven floor. If you let go of your cart, you'll have to chase it - and it can really get up to speed. It's a small town. We can always tell if someone is an out of town shopper.
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u/eastamerica 4d ago
something something a joke about your mom and my pole something something. boom. roasted.
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u/Perca_fluviatilis 4d ago
My work is making the layout of stores like that! My worst enemy are columns lol I usually try to avoid that by having less shelves, alternate layouts, etc but my boss has the final say, and it almost always means more shelves at the expense of the customer. 😅
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u/thatguyonfire240 1d ago
If you think that’s bad you should see the curbside carts they use (this appears to be an HEB); they expect us to take those giant carts down that same aisle
Edit: relooking over the picture; it’s not heb but my store has a similar aisle like this with a cart that’s almost twice the size of this to fulfill 12 people’s orders 😭
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u/lordandsavior_JC 5d ago
The other side is about 4” larger .
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u/Mystic_Owell 5d ago
If the larger side really didn't fit the trolley, using it would have been a much better way of showing that you couldn't fit since one would rule out the other inherently. The fact that you purposely used the smaller side implies that the other choice would ruin your point. Especially since the other side would have been the obvious one to attempt if you actually wanted to make it through. This means you for some reason wanted to fabricate a reddit post. Very odd behaviour.
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u/DigbyChickenZone 5d ago
What if someone in a wheelchair wanted an item from the side OP got stuck in? And ADA compliance aside - why is it OK to blame the customer for having a hard time navigating a poorly designed area, rather than blaming the store for designing the space poorly?
I am a 5"5' 120lb woman, I can fit through smaller spaces than most people. I don't assume that because I can navigate through tight-fitting areas that EVERYONE ELSE should be like me or just "find a way around".
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u/Mystic_Owell 5d ago
no that's bad don't get me wrong. I just think he could probably have fit the trolley down the wider side and he's intentionally misrepresenting it. It really wouldn't make sense for it not to fit a trolley down at least one side because aisles are movable, they aren't fixed. I'm guessing there's at least one aisle on either side without a pillar that could be made smaller by a few inches to at least allow a trolley to fit through.
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u/DigbyChickenZone 5d ago
I just think he could probably have fit the trolley down the wider side and he's intentionally misrepresenting it.
Again - why is it OK to blame the customer for having a hard time navigating a poorly designed area, rather than blaming the store for designing the space poorly?
Making someone back up their cart, and move around to go on the other side is still terrible design on the part of this shopping center.
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u/Mystic_Owell 5d ago
I'm not, it's the fault of the shop. I'm saying this guy made a post claiming you cannot move through the aisle with a trolley when you probably could have. If his post mentioned the fact that a wheel chair or electric wheel chair can't get through then that would be a fine post to make. But his relied on a misrepresentation either to exaggerate a problem or to completely fabricate one
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u/DigbyChickenZone 5d ago
I agree that this scenario is exaggerated, and the other side could have been used.
But, an aisle split down the center with a pole should be easy to navigate on either side with carts/trolleys. Someone being stuck and being forced to redirect their cart/trolley to use only one side indicates poor design.
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u/Mystic_Owell 5d ago
absolutely. I assume it's probably a top down thing. Like they need a certain amount of products on the shelf and they might have bought a building with unfortunate pillar placement. Maybe it was used for something more forgiving and they bought it without thinking ahead. If it's a franchise type deal they may be beholden to a certain amount of product regardless of the physical limitation and they just have to accept the cards they've been dealt.
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u/pete2licku 5d ago
So you take a picture instead of backing up? Please I’m so sorry you could not go to the right instead.
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u/IronKnight238 5d ago
I'm so sorry you couldn't find the comment from OP that said it couldn't fit down that way either.
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u/Individual_Agency703 5d ago
And don't get me started on those cardboard displays blocking the aisles, always tilted at a 45-degree angle and blocking what I'm looking for. I always shove those aside. Outta my way, product placement!