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Services • Retail signage & wayfinding

Grocery signage that works as hard as the store.

BEND Creative designs in-store signage and wayfinding for grocery stores: window graphics, door and entry signs, aisle and category headers, cooler and shelf signage, and the compliance signs nobody wants to design. One system, from the curb to the checkout.

Best for
Grocery stores and specialty food retailers
Includes
Exterior, wayfinding, category and compliance signage
Built by
Insiders from Canada’s largest grocery retailer

Every sign gets one job.

Shoppers don’t read stores. They scan them. Signs work when each one answers one question at the moment it comes up.

We map the trip a shopper takes, from the parking lot to the till, and design a piece for each stop. For Rabba Fine Foods, that meant a beer and wine signage system across its Toronto stores: legal hours on the window and door, a category header down the cooler aisle, ID reminders at the counter and branded bags to take it home.

  • Find itName each section the way people shop it.
  • Sell itMake the category easy to want.
  • Explain itRules and hours, said before the till.
Rabba storefront window graphics reading Wine and Beer, available 7AM to 11PM, beside a full-height glass of beer

From the curb to the counter.

One typeface, one colour system and one tone, so a window decal, a cooler header and a counter card all read as the same store.

Rabba entrance door graphic repeating the Wine and Beer lockup and 7AM to 11PM hours above a glass of beer

At the door.

The same lockup and hours, sized for someone three steps away and reaching for the handle.

Red Ready to Drink header running along a Rabba cooler aisle stocked with wine, beer and coolers

In the aisle.

A category header readable from the end of the aisle. The header finds it, the product sells it.

Rabba checkout counter card reading ID Please, 19+, if you look 25 and under

At the till.

Compliance messages, designed. The shopper knows what’s coming before the cashier has to say it.

Two tall Rabba wine bags in red and white with vertical WINE type

Out the door.

Bags and carriers take the brand home. The last sign in the system.

Signage built for real stores.

The proof

In-store work.

Grocery signage, answered.

What should a grocery store signage system include?

A piece for each step of the shopper’s trip: exterior and window graphics, entry signage, aisle and category headers, shelf and cooler signage, checkout and compliance signs, and bags or packaging. Every piece should share one typeface, one colour system and one tone so the store reads as one brand.

How do you plan wayfinding in a grocery store?

Walk the trip a shopper takes and note the question they have at each point: is it open, where is it, is this the right section, what do I need at the till. Then give each sign one of those jobs and place it where the question comes up.

How should a grocery store sign beer and wine in Ontario?

Start with the rules. In Ontario, retail beer and wine sales run from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., and staff ask for ID from anyone who looks under 25. Put the hours on the window and door, and ID reminders at the counter, so shoppers know before they reach the till.

Can one signage system work across several stores?

Yes. We build signage as a kit of templates with fixed type, colour and layout rules, so each store gets pieces sized for its own windows, doors and aisles while still looking like the same brand.

Who is BEND Creative?

BEND Creative is a Toronto creative agency for grocery and CPG brands, built by insiders from Canada’s largest grocery retailer. Services include brand identity, CPG packaging and labels, retail and in-store signage, and social and campaigns.

  • retail signage
  • wayfinding
  • window graphics
  • category headers
  • shelf and cooler signage
  • compliance signage
  • in-store marketing
  • typography
  • print production

More from BEND

One team, from the pack to the post.

BEND Creative also does packaging and label design, grocery social media and campaigns and brand identity design.

Opening, refreshing or adding a category? Let’s walk the store.

Tell us about your store. The coffee’s on us.

Get Bent.