Flour Arranging

Holy grain! Things have been looking a little bleak recently on the Flour Arranging front, but Peter has saved the day with this little beauty from Tesco in Budapest.

What I really like about this arrangement is we're back to shelved flour. No pallets or plastic packs stacked in the middle of an aisle, just flour, in it's rightful place, presented nicely, on a shelf.

I know this arrangement isn't perfect (some facing-up is desperately needed) and there is a nasty gaping hole where more flour should be, but it's a move in the right direction!

A solid 6/10

Susan.

Sam comes up trumps again with an absolute horror show from Lidl in North Walsham.

Seriously Lidl, either North Walsham is full of self-raising flour addicts or you are bidding for the wooden spoon in flour arrangement!

I hope your next delivery contains enough self-raising to rectify this travesty, until then;

1/10

Susan.

Another photo sent in from Czech temporary resident Sam, this time from Tesco in Narodni Trida, Prague.



I am glad to see that Tesco CZ takes flour as seriously as we do and this 'Super Star' arrangement only goes to prove that! I really like the simplicity of this colour-coded 3-tier system with Granny giving it the big OK hand symbol in the poster above.

Having said that I don't think she would be so happy to see the rogue red bags sneaking their way onto the blue column, one of them clearly dislodging one of the blue bags from it's rightful place. I imagine she would also not be too pleased about the completely reversed pack of green flour in the first green column, come on Tesco, have some respect for Granny Flour!

5/10 - Great idea, poorly executed.

Susan.

Hi Fellow Flour Fans!

A while back I got in contact with Derek after coming across this blog to ask if I could help out or contribute in some way...and here is my first entry! I'm very excited, thanks Derek!

Ben has sent us a fab flour-filled photo from Planet Organic on Westbourne Grove, London.



He says;

"Being a smaller shop than a large supermarket of course their arrangement is more limited. However it is reasonably pleasing to the eye."

I agree Ben! BUT I would have to point out that for an establishment priding themselves on the products they offer I am slightly disappointed about the presentation of this display. The gap in the middle of the top shelf is, for me, unsightly (especially as this could be easily avoided by moving all the bags along, thus not only closing the space but also perfectly aligning the first bag on the left with the edge of the shelf) and I don't even want to think about what's happening on the far right of the second shelf from the bottom! Come on Planet Organic, reach for the stars and your flour sales will rocket!

7/10

Susan.

You might have thought I'd given up on my Flour and the delights of that arranging can bring, but no, i've just been in hiding.

Had lots to do, the new year has been a busy one, but now FA is back in focus. Stay tuned!

Luke does a fair bit of travelling and has been good to take pictures on his travels.

This time he has only gone and got one from the other side of the world! Flour from a Safeway's in Mornington, Victoria, Australia.

Now that is a big rack of flour. It's not not as bold as the Egyptian flour's walls but it does have that towering feeling. Stacked high and to the edge, it's a pretty imposing arrangement.

It's a pretty good range of types, sizes and from the picture, looks fairly well laid out. The big bags are on the bottom shelf - you don't often see sacks of flour like that in UK supermarkets - and the more specialist flours are out of reach of the kids.

First from down under, and it's pretty damn good sport.

8/10

Budgens Poringland is probably the biggest Budgens i have ever seen. It looks like a a (small) supermarket. You know it has a car park and seems like it is pretty big, but in fact it's not THAT big.  Well anyway, it's bigger than one you might find in a local promenade.

Thanks Victoria for sending in this picture, it's nice to receive a picture from a more rural part of the UK and a good way to kick off the new year. Happy new year.

Now I agree with Victoria who says "a surprisingly large selection for a small supermarket". Yes, it is bigger than the smaller shops, but isn't the biggest we have seen from a reseller of this size.

Looking back to the previous Budgens, a shop that is a bit smaller had arguably a better range.

BUT, yes, BUT!

There are two things that I am absolutely loving about this arrangement!

• Wrights Flour - top shelf in the centre, we know where that came from hey deb the bread ;)
• A reduced sticker! - the first appearance in a flour arrangement, not that the value of flour should ever be reduced, but it is the first on the site.

On the other hand, there are items which are out of stock, which i am not a fan off.

Overall not a bad arrangement, but not great.

6/10

The last couple of posts (and some of ones in the not too distant future) have been from overseas. So, here is one from Julian that's from a little closer to home, but with has a tenuous link to it being "International".

Here is an arrangement from the "International Supermarket" in Bethnal Green. This place is across the road from a Tescos Metro, so needs to have it's Unique Selling Point and they have one..... They are selling international goods!

I'd not call it a supermarket as such, but it defiantly is International, but the clues are in the name :)

They have the element of convenience covered, we've often seen McDougalls appear in situations like this, but it has a whole bottom shelf of extra fun.

As Julian said "I was amazed at the quality here. I mean flour from Sarajevo. Wow.", and I agree. wow. They have an impressive selection of types and sizes for such a small shop.

You can tell that Julian was obviously was that impressed he bought a packet of flour before taking the picture. It's easy to understand the instinct to buy the flour before taking the picture, what an easy mistake to make.

I'm impressed to see a shop of it's size sell more than the standard McDougalls.

7/10

oh. all the best for 2011. Hope you have a flouring good year.

Yes! Egyptian!

Finally the middle east is involved. Now, I am not too sure of the location, but I know it's in Cairo, Egypt.

I said it would be difficult to explain to someone in France about flour arranging, well I think Sherif had the same worries in when taking his photos. All the photos arrived looking like they had been taken at 45 degrees and through a bag. I can imagine the camera being hidden in a fake flower in his breast pocket.

Flour is heavily subsidised by the Government in Egypt, and as a flour nation they aren't a engulfed in our capitalist flour ways, so this arrangement is different to the western world's.

All the pictures have been rotated to save neck pains.

The approach, to the flour.... down the flour walled roads.

Into the flour door - making sure not to block the fan.

Past the Bill and Ben (the flour pot men).

Specialist flours in shade, under cover. .... the special stuff.

I think these pictures are awesome, and I wish I had some clever things to say.

Yep, I'm speechless. It may not be flour arranging in a shop, in the cupboard, or in a warehouse like we know it. but it's well organised, good selection and if the guys didn't look so busy, they could probably built a castle with it.

10/10

So, I was in Paris a number of weeks back, and even though I was working really hard I managed to get a flour photo. At the time it looked fine, but once loaded on to the computer i see it is a little blurry. oh dear.

I hope you can understand that my French isn't as good as my English, so trying to explain to the Franprix's security guards that I have a flour site ... wasn't really an option. So I was in and out, without looking like i has stolen something - except a picture of the flour :)

Yes, I know. A pretty poor photo. But not a bad display. Pretty tidy, nice selection - even if I am not sure of the details of the selection.

The store was a inner city "metro" sized affair, so a large convenience store. So I was pretty pleased with the arrangement - even if it's a little disappointing to have the flour hidden behind the post, it surely shouldn't be obstructed like this.

6/10