Store of the week: Merkur supermarket, Mariahilferstrasse, Vienna

Whether it is Eurospar, Spar International or perhaps Spar Gourmet, among others.

Unless, perhaps, it is Merkur.

This is a chain of design-conscious supermarkets, where sustainability and good looks are high on the agenda.

Owned by German food retail giant Rewe, this particular store, on Vienna’s Mariahilferstrasse, one of the city’s main retail thoroughfares, shows how things can be done differently.

One of the first things that the visitor to this subterranean supermarket will notice is that there are very few straight lines. Look to the right and there is a curving wood-clad perimeter, creating customer niches along its length.

This is the deli bar, preceded by an open cheese display that positively encourages inspection.

Curves in a store where space is at a premium is probably cavalier in terms of getting the maximum number of SKUs out onto the floor. Yet it does give a distinctly more human face to a supermarket interior when compared with the rectilinear approach adopted more generally in this country.

Now look to the right and in the mid-shop there is an island offering more traiteur-style goodies. And for those in search of the rather more mundane, the fresh area has angled units - again giving the eye something interesting to consider.

The Mariahilferstrasse branch’s city centre location means that convenience is to the fore, but this is still a more restful and engaging experience than most of its British equivalents.