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Posted 10-24-08
GREENSBORO — From dusk today until dawn tomorrow, more than two dozen students and faculty at UNCG will collaborate on plans for a thorough makeover of The Salvation Army of Greensboro’s Family Store.
The intense, 12-hour design session – known as a charrette – begins at 7 p.m. in the Gatewood Studio Arts Building. About 40 students from the departments of Interior Architecture (IARC) and Consumer, Apparel and Retail Studies (CARS) will present, discuss and distill their research into practical recommendations for transforming the appearance and improving the efficiency of the 40,000-square-foot thrift store at 307 W. Lee Street.
The local Family Store sells donated household items, apparel and furniture, using the proceeds to fund Greensboro’s Boys and Girls Clubs and Center of Hope, a shelter to self-sufficiency. The Salvation Army operates more than 1,400 Family Stores nationwide.
In study and planning meetings, students and professors never lost sight of their objective: to identify ways to make the shopping experience more enjoyable and comfortable for the store’s diverse clientele, ranging from the needy to the bargain shopper. Improving the appearance and function of the Family Store is part of the Salvation Army’s marketing campaign – What’s in store really makes a difference! – to increase community visibility and the level of donations.
In the charrette’s interrelated study sessions, IARC and CARS students apply their respective academic disciplines to different functional and operational aspects of the Family Store, including space planning, display, branding, site plan, signage and employee identity.
Students and faculty, individually and in groups, have conducted research at the Family Store during the past two months. IARC’s focus is on interior and exterior materials, maintenance, lighting, customer flow, structure and deployment of furnishings, fixtures and equipment. For CARS, the focus is on merchandising, store management, customer behavior, merchandise acquisition, storage, presentation and disposition.
The charrette coincides with the national Make a Difference Project, interior design students performing community service in conjunction with the International Design Educators Council. UNCG students promoted the charrette, inviting fellow students to bring donations of household items and apparel to the Gatewood Building.
At sunrise tomorrow, the charrette will produce a comprehensive yet flexible working document in preparation for a formal presentation to The Salvation Army in November.
“We are eager to receive and assess the recommendations, which will be significant here as we plan for a second Family Store that will be more of boutique with a fashion focus for northern Greensboro,” said Major Paul B. Egan, corps officer, The Salvation Army of Greensboro. “UNCG’s work has the potential of broader implications for the Army in other areas of the country.”
The working relationship between the Army and UNCG began in August with an informal inquiry to Tommy Lambeth, head of IARC, who recommended a joint project with CARS, led by Dr. Gwendolyn O’Neal. They identified interested professors and soon word of the project spread in each department, attracting excited students and alumni.
Honors students are primary participants of the charrette, enhancing their undergraduate studies as part of UNCG’s Lloyd International Honors College, which attracts high achieving students for life-enriching academic experiences.
“This is an important community project, allowing students to fulfill their humanitarian calling for service, plus giving them practical experience to apply their knowledge, and that will help them professionally,” said Nadia Volchansky, IARC adjunct professor.
Volchansky and Suzanne Cabrera, also an adjunct professor in IARC, coordinated the planning of the charrette and their department’s participation. They were joined by CARS faculty Dr. Jennifer Yurchisin and Dr. Kittichai Watchravesringkan.
Student organizations have been integral to planning the charrette. In IARC, Debbie Nestvogel serves as campus president of International Interior Design Association. In CARS, Noelle Crist is president of THREADS.
