While every project looks different, they tend to follow the same path from start to finish. Often, a client will come to us with an existing building that they may have purchased or are interested in remodeling, or a set of architectural drawings for a new ground-up build and solicit our expertise to guide them on the interior portion of their project. This is the canvas with which we begin developing the client's vision.

The design department at Merchants Fixture will sit down with a client as a design consultant to better understand the idea of the store owner and get a better understanding of what the owner's concepts may be for the new space. We let the owner take the lead and we act as advisors, using our decades of industry knowledge and experience to suggest what has worked and what hasn't worked for other clients. In this stage of the project, we aren't trying to sell equipment or store fixtures; we are listening. It's an interview between a client and a designer. We are counselors where the client may know what he wants, but isn't quite sure how to get there.

We don't really call them gas stations anymore, because they aren't. Gas may be available but it's not why people stop anymore.

Folks stop at convenience stores, and they stop there because they know what's also available inside the store.

We've had clients that wanted their coffee program to be the focal point of the store. And some that wanted the food program to be their main driver of sales. We recognize that store owners know their neighborhood and their customers better than anybody. We are experts in facilitating the design and flow of a convenience store, but we humbly accept that aren't operators and we won't know that those ham biscuits fly off the breakfast line or that the hot food is a hit during the lunch rush - until we hear it from the client. And then, after learning the anchor of the store, we start to build the client's space. We consider everything from layout of food service equipment to customer traffic in the store, and we begin to develop a convenience store that not only meets our client's needs, but also becomes a destination for the local patrons.

After all, as soon as our team walks off the jobsite and wipes down the last countertop and starts up the last oven, it's not us that will be unlocking the doors every morning. We won't be operating the store. But when the store is in our own backyard or we find ourselves on road trips, it's always a treat to check in and grab a cup of coffee.

We not only assist in developing convenience store designs, but we develop relationship with our customers as well. And we are so confident in what we do and how we execute that we use our projects themselves and our past customers as our living portfolio. Because immersing clients in the work we've done speaks volumes more than a photo ever could.