If you live in Sweden, you know ICA. They aren't just a grocery chain; they are an institution. Specifically, we are talking about ICA Sweden, the heavyweight champion of the Nordic food industry. However, being the market leader comes with a distinct pressure: how do you stay relevant when you are already everywhere?
For this project, the spotlight turned to the ICA MAXI format—the hypermarket giants of the group. The specific client was the ICA MAXI in Haninge, a massive cooperative owned by its 3.8 million members. They didn’t come to us just to pick out a new shade of paint. They approached Blink, the premier retail design agency in Sweden, because they sensed a shift in the wind. The era of "stack it high and watch it fly" was fading. They needed to pivot from being a warehouse of goods to a sanctuary of gastronomy. They needed a partner who understood that a 450 sqm foodhall isn't just about square footage; it's about heartbeats per minute.
Let’s be honest: the traditional hypermarket experience can be soul-sucking. It’s often vast, cold, and industrial—a place you want to escape from, not linger in. The specific challenge facing ICA MAXI Haninge was the "chore factor." Families were treating grocery shopping as a logistical burden rather than a culinary event.
The foot traffic was there, but the engagement wasn't. The store format, while functional, felt outdated in an era where consumers are obsessed with "farm-to-table" narratives and artisanal experiences. The challenge for us as Scandinavian retail design experts was to inject the warmth, chaos, and soul of an outdoor Mediterranean market into a structured, climate-controlled Swedish hypermarket. We had to solve the problem of emotional disconnection. How do you make a massive space feel intimate? How do you turn a necessity into a leisure activity?
Before we drew a single sketch, we dug deep into the psychology of the modern shopper. As a European retail design studio that prides itself on data-driven creativity, we uncovered three pivotal truths about the current state of grocery retail.
Our user journey mapping revealed that the biggest friction point for families wasn't price—it was the children. If the kids are bored, the parents are stressed. Stressed parents rush. Rushing parents buy less. We realized that to increase dwell time, we didn't need to target the adults; we needed to captivate the children.
Most supermarkets smell like cleaning products and sound like refrigerator hums. Our audit showed that the "appetite appeal" was non-existent until the customer actually got home and cooked. We identified a need to move the sensory gratification upstream, right into the aisle.
Shoppers want to save the planet, but they are confused by the "how." They needed clear, visual cues. They didn't want to read a manual on eco-friendly living; they wanted the architecture itself to guide them toward better choices without feeling preached to.
Our strategy was bold but simple: Destruction of the "Aisle." We wanted to break the grid.
Most retail concept design in the Nordics relies on efficiency—straight lines, predictable flows. We decided to introduce controlled disruption. The strategy was to create an "Al Fresco" market ambience indoors. We call it "The Theater of Food."
We moved away from the concept of a "store" and toward the concept of a "community hub". The strategy hinged on interaction. If a customer can touch, smell, hear, and watch their food being prepared, the perceived value skyrockets. We weren't just designing shelves; we were designing a stage for food craftsmanship. This approach differentiates Blink from competitors who focus solely on aesthetics; we focus on the narrative arc of the shopping trip.
We shattered the linear monotony. We created a "Market Square" layout that encourages meandering rather than marching. The flow is organic, pulling customers deeper into the space through visual anchors rather than forcing them through a maze.
At the heart of the floor plan lies the crown jewel: The Green Deli Vegetable Butcher. This isn't just a salad bar. It is a service station where skilled staff chop, dice, and prep veggies on demand. It adds movement and human connection to the produce section. It inspires customers to try that weird-looking root vegetable because someone is there to show them how to prep it.
We integrated sound and scent zones. Yes, we engineered the smell. In hero categories, subtle audio cues and curated scents amplify the product. You smell the bread before you see it. You hear the sizzle. It creates a subconscious hunger that drives exploration.
Remember the bored kids? We gave them jobs. We designed dedicated mini-trolleys and kid-sized scales. We introduced in-store produced healthy snacks at eye-level for toddlers (sorry, candy bars, you’ve been demoted). By turning kids into "shoppers," we turned a stressful chore into a game of "grown-up."
We utilized eco-conscious materials that look as good as they perform. The lighting is energy-efficient but warm—no hospital glare here. We integrated recycling stations that look like furniture, not dumpsters, and used signage to celebrate local, organic produce, making the sustainable choice the most visually attractive one.
Executing a high-concept design in a high-traffic environment is like changing a tire on a moving bus. The installation required precise coordination to ensure the store could remain operational (or minimize downtime).
One of the biggest hurdles was integrating the "Theater" elements—the prep stations and open kitchens—without violating health and safety codes or creating bottlenecks. As a top retail design agency in Sweden, we navigated the bureaucracy of food safety regulations to ensure the open-air market feel didn't compromise hygiene. We balanced rustic, tactile materials with industrial-grade durability because, let’s face it, shopping carts are essentially battering rams.
The result is a seamless blend of the "rough" aesthetic of a farm shop with the sleek polish expected of Scandinavian retail design experts.
While exact sales figures are proprietary, the qualitative data speaks volumes. Dwell time has increased. Families are seen lingering in the "Green Deli" area, treating it as an educational moment rather than a transaction. The client, ICA, has hailed it as a benchmark for future developments. To quote Pehr Eriksson from ICA: "ICA MAXI Foodhall stands as a testament to the power of thoughtful retail design in redefining the way people experience food shopping."
The transformation of ICA MAXI Haninge has been nothing short of spectacular. We didn't just renovate a room; we changed the behavior of the people inside it.
By combining the practicality of a hypermarket with the soul of a food hall, Blink has proven once again why we are the go-to European retail design studio for brands that want to survive the retail apocalypse—and look good doing it.
richard@blinkthedesignagency.com
+46 73 545 5018
Blink is a leading retail design agency based in Sweden, specializing in retail concept development, store experience design, and omnichannel integration across the Nordics and Europe. We transform brands into physical destinations that drive both emotional connection and commercial performance.
