There’s no downtime in the weekly cycle of a supermarket to take advantage of and completely clear out a store. But that doesn’t mean that a trading supermarket doesn’t need to be repainted now and then. So the question is: how? How can we safely spray paint a trading supermarket? How does this work whilst keeping the store available to shoppers?
Why spray paint a supermarket?
Before we look into the how, here are three reasons why you may wish to spray paint a supermarket:
- Increased retail sales: research has shown that sales increase by nearly 50% when shops are upgraded.
- First impressions: peeling, scratched or fading paint does not give a good impression.
- Rebranding: colour popularity changes and you may need a repaint to fit in with a general rebrand.
- Appropriate maintenance: some parts of your store will require new coatings from time to time in order to increase the durability and lifespan of a building.
- Cost: Spray painting offers significant cost savings when compared to replacement. This helps to minimise the environmental impact by reducing waste and extending the life of your building. Overall, it is better for budgets and for the environment.
Which areas of a supermarket do we spray paint?
The most common areas that we spray paint in a supermarket are:
- Suspended Ceilings
- Ceiling Soffits & Services
- Cladding
- Shopfronts
The steps we follow when spray painting a supermarket
To safely spray paint a supermarket without having to close it for days or weeks on end, we prepare thoroughly. With any supermarket spray painting job, our focus is on minimising any disruption caused by the spray painting and delivering an improved store at the end of the work.
The 4 phases of our work are:
- Survey
- Preparation
- Spray painting
- Clearing up
Survey
Our thorough surveys mean that we know exactly what needs to be done, what equipment is required, and any access issues that there are. We therefore make sure that all is in place before the job commences. This survey is free and we offer it to make sure that any quotes we make are thorough and accurate.
Preparation
We usually arrive towards the end of trading hours and begin by cleaning, masking and sheeting up the area to be spray painted.
For internal ceilings, we create a temporary spray booth to ensure that there is no overspray affecting tills, shelves, fridges or freezers. This means that the amount of disruption is minimised and you can continue to trade as normal knowing that it won’t be long until you benefit from a brighter, fresher looking store.
To spray paint a supermarket shopfront and cladding, we will fill in any minor imperfections that were identified in the survey before we carry out thorough cleaning and masking up. This all helps to ensure a smooth finish before beginning the actual spray painting, and protects the rest of the premises from overspray.
Spray painting
Once all preparation has been carried out, it is time for the main event: the spray painting.
The coating selected will be chosen to meet the requirements of your specific project including a quick drying time and low odour formulation. We are able to spray in the RAL colour of your choice and are happy to recommend the most popular colours or to use a colour specific to your brand.
As an idea of the amount of time that it takes, we can complete between 250m2 to 500m2 of ceiling spray painting in one evening.
Clearing up
Once the area in question is completely spray painted, we will clear up removing all masking and sheeting.
This process will then be repeated for the next area the following day so that we are working out of hours as much as possible and minimising the disruption to your customers and to trading.
How do we ensure that it is a safe process?
- Wherever possible we work out of hours so that there are as few people around as possible.
- We pride ourselves on excellent customer service and will have thorough conversations in advance of the job to establish which parts of the store we will be painting at any one time and to create a schedule that works best for your shop.
- The coatings used will be chosen to be quick drying and are likely to be water-based to minimise the VOC content.
- Our preparations are thorough: the masking and sheeting up process is an important part to any job but particularly crucial when we spray paint a supermarket whilst it is trading.
If you have any questions or would like to speak to us about your spray painting project, please get in touch. You can also see our retail case studies here.
