Yeme plnochutné potraviny grocery store

Project Overview

Gastro / Commercial The architectural concept for Yeme grocery stores supports the brand's core philosophy: combining tradition, integrity, and a passion for doing things differently. Given that a large portion of the products offered consists of local farm produce, our main inspiration for the concept was the marketplace and the traditional Slovak village. We incorporated this fundamental idea into the design, from the spatial layout and floor plan to the structural elements and the final details. Since the first Yeme store was realized in an open hall space of a former warehouse, it was necessary to introduce a human scale and the bustle of a marketplace. We achieved this by dividing the space into individual "shops"—in our case, shelves and sales zones. As you walk through the store, you encounter a bakery with a wood-fired oven, a meat processing area reminiscent of a small butchery, a dairy, and a greengrocer. Beyond the architectural solution, the technical side of the project was also a challenge. Honest, traditional production and product quality were reflected in the complexity of the layout and structural design. The operation is divided into a sales area and back-of-house facilities, including numerous storage rooms and production lines. It was also necessary to divide the hall space vertically, which we achieved by inserting a steel mezzanine housing a café and the administrative offices of the Yeme chain. We fulfilled the concept of a multifunctional gastro facility with a leasable restaurant by ensuring the central seating zone can be partitioned off using screens, creating a "space within a space." The aesthetic concept of the interior is based on the schematic morphology of traditional Slovak houses. The stalls inserted into the large space feature gabled roofs, which also "humanized" the impression of the open hall. We stuck to natural materials such as wood and brick, and we highlighted the production process itself by exposing structural elements and through our choice of lighting. In many places, we played with details, such as various wooden slat claddings or a lace pattern applied to the metal railing of the mezzanine.