Hy-Vee is one of the largest employee-owned businesses in the United States, dedicated to making their customers’ lives easier, healthier, and happier by providing a helpful smile in every aisle. Though the needs of consumers have changed over the course of Hy-Vee’s rich 87-year history, the company’s devotion to quality, variety, and value has never wavered. To remind folks of their continued commitment, Hy-Vee recognized they needed to showcase their past in a modern way that inspired customers for the future and brought a serious “wow-factor.”
CHALLENGE:
Hy-Vee is an icon throughout the Midwest but within an ever-shifting market dictated by the evolving needs of today’s consumers, the company found itself needing to remind everyone that their rich history doesn’t hold them back, but instead bolsters their ability to lead into the future. Enter the brand new Ron Pearson Center -named in honor of their longtime CEO- which contains an 11,000 square foot lobby. Hy-Vee wanted to transform the lobby into an interactive History Pavilion to pay homage to their past while engaging and inspiring every visitor to the Center. Supported by six columns with 4-foot diameters, the lobby was in need of a brilliant display system that could accommodate the columns’ severe curvature and complement the fixed displays adorning the walls of the area with the end goal of transforming the space into a truly immersive experience reminiscent of a Hollywood movie set.
SOLUTION:
Attacking the objective right from the start, NanoLumens joined forces with Dimensional Innovations, a Kansasbased architecture and design firm, to tackle the challenge of transforming a drab lobby into a vibrant and dynamic monument to Hy-Vee’s past, present, and future. In order to draw guests into the space in a way that felt immersive, the team knew they needed to install stunning displays on each of the lobby’s six columns to complement the more traditional displays on the walls. The subsequent question over who would provide the columns’ displays was answered quickly: NanoLumens.
The sole manufacturer capable of managing such tight curves, NanoLumens complements their awe-inspiring know-how with exclusive ownership over the IP behind their tech. This means that NanoLumens’ revolutionary Nixel Series™ LED displays were not just the perfect solution, but the only solution, as well. The brilliant displays feature a 5mm pixel pitch design, and are positioned eight feet off the ground, just above visitors’ wandering eye lines. In order to keep guests constantly engaged, the Nixel Series™ displays stagger the timing of their two-hour video loop so that as guests meander around the room, they are continually exposed to fresh and exciting content from throughout Hy-Vee’s 87-year history.
RESULTS:
To hear Dimensional Innovations’ lead designer James C. Hendricks tell it, “When ‘wow-factor’ is a requirement for the job, NanoLumens displays truly are one of today’s most effective ways to deliver it. Today, the Ron Pearson Center lobby is a show-stopping display of artifacts, advertisements, and photographs from Hy-Vee’s nine decade history, punctuated and highlighted by NanoLumens brilliant 360-degree Nixel SeriesTM LED displays on the area’s six columns. The brilliant visual attractions play a critically important role in defining the room’s overall ambience, showing how the company is looking forward while never forgetting its roots as an employee-owned grocery store. An additional advantage to the NanoLumens Nixel SeriesTM displays is the ease with which they can be serviced. Protected by an industry leading six-year warranty that covers each display down to the individual pixel, the Nixel SeriesTM displays are also fully front-serviceable, so any necessary maintenance can be conducted much more quickly and easily than other display technologies.
TECHNOLOGY:
Utilizing the NanoLumens patented flexible Nixel™ technology, Hy-Vee was able to wrap six columns in 5mm pixel pitch displays. In partnership with Dimensional Innovations, Hy-Vee is also utilizing a custom built proprietary content management system so the on-site staff can update all the displays at once, saving time and energy when changes are needed.
