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ife is full of surprises – like the one which can be found by just walking in to Family Express’ new corporate headquarters on state route 49 in Valparaiso. From the outside, it’s an unassuming tan building that, at first glance, might be mistaken for a library. But take one step inside and you are met by a space that is at once vast but warm, and modern yet elegant. The sudden, striking transition is intentional, says architect Peter Andreou, Associate Principle at Design Organization: “We wanted to have that ‘wow factor’ as soon as you come in.’” That wow factor reflects what Family Express wants its customers to experience every time they walk into one of its 52 Indiana stores. It took “quite a few conversations” with President and CEO Gus Olympidis to get
The mock store provides a full-scale opportunity for training.
vehicles, but also in every in-store interaction its 500 employees have with consumers. So it’s no surprise that the heart of the new corporate headquarters is a hightech learning center and a full-scale mock Family Express store, complete with gas pumps and fully functional restrooms. The mock store is actually the one piece of the new headquarters that was already there when construction began. “They did have the store there when we started, and that was brought into the remodeling process,” recalls Terry Larson, Owner, Larson-Danielson Construction (La Porte), which handled the job. “It was one heck of a transformation. Before, it was just a typical manufacturing/warehouse facility. Now it’s totally different.” “The whole scheme revolves around the training store,” says Andreou. “You can see it no matter where you are.” The
large training room can be split into two smaller conference rooms, Larson notes, and boasts PC workstations at every seat, allowing trainers to focus on the material and not moving bodies around. In early 2011, Family Express plans to take the next step, placing PCs tied into its training system in the back rooms of every store to allow for online training and re-certification of associates in the field. “Bringing the living brand into the model is much more profound than just saying, ‘customer service is a good thing,’” Olympidis says. “You won’t find anyone in this industry who doesn’t think customer service is a good thing. With a living brand – think Southwest Airlines, Disney, Nordstrom – all those customer service occasions revolve around a very special person.” To find those people, Family Express
Visitors to the new Family Express headquarters are greeted by the company logo and brands floating in a glass pane.
his sense of the company’s culture and then incorporate that into the design, says Interior Designer Michael Davis. “Listening to his vision and the history of Family Express brought us to the point where we couldn’t do any less than our best,” he says. Central to that vision is Family Express’ “living brand” strategy, which emphasizes building and reinforcing a brand not only through traditional advertising and marketing www.buildingindiananews.com
Design Organization, Inc. Architecture & Interior Design 219.476.1400 www.designorg.com
Larson-Danielson Construction Company, Inc. General Contractor 219.362.2127 www.ldconstruction.com
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