Giant Food (Landover)/Decor packages

Romanesque (197x-198x)
Starting in the early 1970s, Giant would introduce a new, larger concept to their stores. The interiors of these stores would now resemble open-air markets, with ornate design and Roman-inspired decor pieces, compared to traditional mid-century retail design used before.

The walls of the store would consist of a stucco crown moulding around the ceiling, with each section being offset by columns. Eventually, revisions brought about detailed walls, with designs resembling the products that are sold underneath.

The package was also the first to utilize mercury-vapor lighting, with early designs being consisted of a direct circular frame. Later prototypes would inset the openings by a few inches. Elegant chandeliers were also used over checkouts.

The Fort Washington, MD store was the last operating Giant with such remnants (having received a partial Red Block Letters treatment), until it closed in late 2019 for construction of a new store.

Layout
This era would introduce and popularize the standard pre-Ahold layout, used for nearly 30 years across many new stores and remodels. The entrance consists of a small vestibule body, which laterally directs customers towards the produce section. Produce would occupy the bottom-right half of the store, with the floral desk and its assorted products being nestled at the corner. Dairy products made up the right-side perimeter, which segues into the bakery/deli prepared-foods area within the back wall. The pharmacy would serve as a divider between the prior departments and meat and seafood, the latter of which located their service area at the back-left corner. Frozen food products would then line the left-side perimeter, before reaching the front-end and checkouts (which would include beer and wine where permitted for sale). The customer service desk and office was placed in front of the entrance.

Center aisles would vary by store, though a few aisles in front of the pharmacy were dedicated to health & beauty products, and another two were dedicated to seasonal/general merchandise products. Select Romanesque stores would also feature overhead crown mouldings over the former section.

This layout would receive a mirrored version in the late 1980s, which would open to the left side of the store.

Red Block Letters (198x-8x)
In the early 1980s, Giant went for a minimalistic design for their interiors, as opposed to the detailed design they had used the decade prior. The walls were reduced to a cleaner state, primarily featuring large block-letter department text or a variety of neon signage pieces. Generally, the package would have a red and white color scheme, coordinating with their marketing for much of the decade. Alcoves would have wood paneling, and goosenecks were consisted of large red rectangles with the item text at the bottom corner. This coloring was changed for beer and wine departments.

However, its individual elements slightly varied across most implementations. Some would feature wall elements such as lines, tiles, or checkerboard signage pieces. The chandeliers, however, would now be in a modernist design form with a simple white cylinder representing the lighting piece.

This package is known to have been one of the most common interior packages prior to the Ahold buyout. Throughout the 1980s, stores with previous decor package would receive this package via partial remodels, often keeping notable decor elements or layouts from the previous packages.

Layout
Within this era, Giant pivoted towards larger stores, nearing 60,000 square feet in certain instances. Many stores in the decade experimented with state-of-the-art features, including skylights over produce,

The floral section was now set under a large alcove, with a salad bar and juices co-located underneath.

which in some cases would also serve as an associate mezzanine.

Red Neon (1983-98/99)
The front-end alcove would now dedicate more space towards checkouts, with the salesfloor portion being relegated to the farthest third.

In the early 1990s, the reflective slatted walls were changed from a maroon to a silver tint.

"Fresh Ideas. Great Values." (199x-2003/04)
While most stores retained terrazzo flooring installed before Ahold's acquisition, new locations and select remodels featured new, multi-toned beige checkerboard tiling. This would be the first time linoleum tiles would appear inside new Giant-MD stores.

The Health & Beauty department was vastly rearranged and rebranded under the "Relax. Renew. Revive." name.

to experiment with a "grand aisle" blueprint for prepared foods and prominent perishables.

"You've Got a Giant by Your Side" (2004-05)
The package, modeled off of Giant's slogan, This would also be Giant's last package to implement mercury-vapor (domed) lighting, a fixture the chain had used for over thirty years.

With a remodel of the Middletown, DE store completed in 2018, this decor package is now extinct.

Super Giant (2005-08)
Following scandals and , Ahold

The first instance of the new Super Giant concept was at the Columbia Heights store (in Washington, D.C.), which opened in June 2005. After additional stores with the concept were opened in Van Ness, D.C. and Millville, DE in Spring 2006, the chain began a wide rollout of the concept across new and remodeled locations later in the year.

For 2007, the wooden trim above coolers/perimeter wall openings was removed, with the department indicator portion becoming a plastic strip and the decorative piece. That year also saw Giant's first purpose-built stores with open-truss ceilings.

2008 implementations of the package reverted to a vastly simpler design. Department signage along walls was solely indicated with small lettering. The package had also briefly become concurrent with the Project Refresh design. The last stores with such iterations included stores in Long Neck/Millsboro and Rehoboth Beach, DE.

The Super Giant layout was adapted into the succeeding Project Refresh package, used in certain remodels and new construction stores.

Project Refresh (2008-13)
In late 2007, Ahold announced a comprehensive, multi-year remodeling program for nearly 100 stores in their Giant-MD chain.

2009 update
In mid-2009, a revision was introduced to the package. The wall color was changed from white to entirely yellow, with the wisps/taglines outside primary department signage removed. Gooseneck signage was modified to feature larger text, and a final checkout light design was introduced (a yellow/purple wedge). The decor package would remain unchanged beyond this point.

Giant-PA prototype (2012-16)
The first instance within the Giant-MD chain opened in Perry Hall, MD in August 2012. The store, opened withinin a former SuperFresh location, exhibited new features From late 2015, implementations of the package were now simplified in construction.

Ahold Gray (2016-18)
As of 2020, this package continues to be in use at sister chains Giant-PA and Martin's.

"The Little Things are Giant" (2019-)
With the opening of a relocated Olney, MD store (in a former Shoppers location), Giant launched a revision to the prior package. This is first decor package exclusive to Giant-Landover since operations were merged with Stop & Shop in 2004.