Daylighting Mr. Pig

Try to say Piggly Wiggly without giggling. This is the funny-sounding company with a cartoon spokespig. But what looks and sounds like a character in a child's nursery tale is, in fact, a powerful marketing symbol that generates $4 billion in annual sales from over 600 independent franchises. Piggly Wiggly is synonymous with supermarket in the Deep South; whoever wears the $3,000 "Mr. Pig" costume is an instant celebrity making frequent public appearances and posing for countless photographs.

In the early 1980s, Piggly Wiggly began to extend its market area. This was no subtle, northward creep, but rather a bounding leap to the cooler climate of eastern Wisconsin. Today there are 19 Piggly Wigglys in the region, owned and operated by wholesaler Fresh Brands, headquartered in Sheboygan.

The company works hard to build its market share and has successfully protected it from inroads made by aggressive competitors. Piggly Wiggly stores track what and how much shoppers buy. Like Las Vegas casinos, they know who the "high rollers" are; if their grocery purchases fall significantly, Fresh Brands takes the time to call them to find out if there is a problem. Customers receive birthday invitations to Piggly Wiggly for special dinners. Their children get help in becoming bat boys and girls for the Milwaukee Brewers. One store offers customers a chance to toss coins into a special fountain for donation to a different charity each month.

However, the Piggly Wiggly Community Charities Fountain is not the first thing customers notice as they enter the brand new Piggly Wiggly at the Washington Square Shopping Center in Sheboygan. Based on design ideas used in supermarkets and department stores as far away as Paris, Fresh Brands' 60,000-square-foot flagship store was unique in the company's fleet. Customers enter a shopping world of curved and rounded grocery departments lit by skylights, including such atypical offerings as a combination coffee/book and magazine shop manned by a latte-frothing barista. This Piggly Wiggly's boutique-like interior encourages traffic flow from one department to the next and belies the fairly standard, big box store of split face masonry block as perceived from the parking lot outside.

Among the store's more striking elements are a series of eight, Kalwall georoof skylights ranging from 8 to 25 feet in diameter and bathing virtually every department in controlled, natural daylight. The circular georoofs were developed first and then echoed in the curving retail areas below them. One monstrous 60-foot skylight by Kalwall-affiliated Structures Unlimited, Inc., sits crown-like atop the building's center section and daylights row upon row of more traditional supermarket shelving.

Structures Unlimited is renowned for their unique skylight systems capable of clearspans over 100'. Pre-engineered, rigid-frame, aluminum box beam structures are blended with translucent, insulated Kalwall® panels to form a total composite building system. The result is an interesting architectural feature that bathes the interior with balanced, glare-free, natural daylight. The inherent characteristics of the Structures Unlimited/Kalwall system include rapid, less costly installation; single-source responsibility; leak-proof performance; and superior structural integrity that withstands the high snow loads of Wisconsin winters as easily as Florida hurricanes. The energy performance of the system is unrivaled.

Kalwall's translucent, diffuse-light properties deliver the best quality of natural daylight. Even on cloudy days, the panels transmit even, usable natural light. When skies are bright and sunny, the diffuse panels eliminate harsh glare, hot spots and shadows often associated with traditional glazing. Minute glass fibers within the surface of the panels act like prisms to magnify and transform even the lowest levels of daylight into uniformly balanced illumination.

What artificial lighting Piggly Wiggly does use is programmed to dim or even shut off entirely in response to how much natural light enters. Limiting energy consumption and its cost is a primary advantage of using Kalwall panels. Together, the skylight by Structures Unlimited, Inc. and the Kalwall georoofs contribute to energy savings of $55,000 per year at the Sheboygan store. The panels offer an aesthetic side as well; lit from the inside at night, the skylights generate a warm, inviting glow.

The design of the Sheboygan, Wisconsin, store has been so popular with customers, there are plans to use elements of it in the renovation of as many as 90 other Fresh Brands corporate and franchised stores in eastern Wisconsin and northern Illinois. The plan is adaptable to stores from 45,000 to 70,000 square feet and has been used at other Piggly Wigglys in Kenosha, Omro, Cross Plains, Howard, Waunakee and West Bend, Wisconsin. A second Sheboygan project is also planned.

Needless to say, Fresh Brands is pleased. The company had never used either Structures Unlimited, Inc. or Kalwall before, but felt that both were ideal for the new Piggly Wiggly building format after researching many other daylighting products. Fresh Brands cited the "unique retail shopping ambiance," "energy savings from reduced lighting designs" and "terrific aesthetic appeal." The construction industry press seems to agree, judging by the Sheboygan store's numerous trade awards including "Store of the Year."

Piggly Wiggly

Architect: Thomas Design

Photos: Fresh Brands

Kalwall & Structures Unlimited, Inc. Specifications:
Light Transmission: 20%
Shading Coefficient: 0.23
U-Factor: .29 by NFRC
Panel Color: Crystal, White
Trim Color: Bone White

For more information, contact:
Bruce Keller
Kalwall Corporation, 603-627-3861 (U.S. 800-258-9777)
or
Structures Unlimited, Inc., 603-645-6539 (U.S. 800-225-3895)