“The perfect seduction”

The Migros Market inspired a new kind of shopping culture. By 1958, the product range included 2,700 items, and architects and designers gave their all to ensure this impressive selection was presented to customers in the most attractive way possible.

The entire architecture and interior planning of a Migros Market is designed to bring the customers closer to the products. For this purpose, special shelves are developed: “The new gondolas, shelves and cooled, open display units are secondary to the products; only the products should have an impact and be generally heaped up in an informal way, be spread out in front of the customers.” The lighting concept follows the same goal. With it, the influence of daylight within a building is limited “in order to ensure an even lighting of all goods”. And there are increasingly more of these goods, as the 1950s are the time of the economic miracle and an increasing number of people in Switzerland are able to afford more. For Migros, this means expansion of the range and expansion of the branches. When the first Migros supermarket opens in Basel in 1952, it has 450 articles; six years later, the latest Migros Market has more than 2,700. Above all, the non-food sector is greatly expanded with many articles for daily use, for the household and leisure, and with goods for old and young. It is with good reason that the slogan of this Migros shopping paradise is: “Everything under one roof”.