Teeter's Toilets a Step Up From Other Gourmet Market Facilities, But Still Far From Perfect

Harris Teeter
North Ridge Shopping Center
6024 Falls of the Neuse Rd
Raleigh NC USA 27619
www.harristeeter.com

Where is it?

From the front entrance, head left once you're in the store and head for the pharmacy. Once you get there, look up and you'll find the sign for the restrooms.

Kind of hard to miss the sign, really.

What's it like?

Though billed as "Your Neighborhood Food Market," this southeast U.S. chain boasts a bevy of higher-end foods, including an impressive fish and meat counter and choice selection of fresh wild mushrooms -- and that's in addition to the essentials.

Think of it as a Fresh Market crossed with a Winn Dixie, if you will, though in my opinion it's a nicer place to shop than either of those, and I found the staff here to be very down-to-earth and friendly, not elitist or prudish, like at some staff at other higher-end food markets.

Thanks to the hard-to-miss sign for the toilets, which kind of sets your expectations, you go in thinking the bathrooms here will be pretty snazzy. And in a way they are. The walls are covered with faux-brick tile, the floors with a different pattern (and smaller tile) as that found on the walls. The toilets and urinals are separated by shimmering stainless steel dividers, which add a cool sense of modernism to the environment. Because of that, the standard white porcelain fixtures tend to stick out a little more and seem less ordinary.

Also impressive is the mirror, which angles out towards the sink station some -- a simple adjustment that inflects some style into what is an ordinary toilet, really.

Given that, you'd think these toilets to have met the high expectations other gourmet markets or specialty stores have missed, like the aforementioned Fresh Market or Total Wine. And in a certain regards, that is so.

But the bathrooms here were also untidy and somewhat foul-smelling from repeated use during the day -- and it's very obvious that a cleanup crew doesn't come in regularly enough, like every few hours, to keep the place in tip-top shape.

I found plenty of paper bits on the floor (mis-thrown towels and generic tear-offs that clung too hard to the dispenser after the towel segment had been issued). I also spotted much water and other spilled liquids (i.e. urine) around the base of the toilets and urinals.

Sure, there were some clean spots, but the messy areas were very noticeable -- as was the smell (most likely produced by that spilled pee). Having a crew come in more than once or twice a day will solve this problem, by the way.

Marks out of 10:

6. Looks nice on the surface, and definitely has potential, but it's also more dirty than it looks. It has potential for being rated higher, though.

Comments to the Management:

I imagine you send in a crew here once a day to tidy the place up. Obviously, it gets more traffic than you think it does, so consider sending in a crew or attendant every few hours, or at least three to four times a day, just to keep the place spiffed up. It surely needs it -- and doing so will certainly make the experience better for all.

Full-Bodied Stink with Hints of Grossness at Total Wine Raleigh Toilets

Total Wine & More - Raleigh Triangle
Triangle Plaza
6105 Capital Blvd
Raleigh, NC USA 27616
www.totalwine.com

Where is it?

Proving that they must be for customers only, the toilets here are found near the exit, on the other side of the cashiers.

To get to them, you need to enter the store through the main entrance, go left, pass through an empty cashier line (or, if they are blocked, wait through a full one) and then take an immediate right, and go down a hallway composed solely of drywall. The bathrooms are down that hallway.

What's it like?

This mammoth wine and beverage warehouse (part of a chain throughout the southeast U.S.) on Raleigh's bustling Capital Boulevard offers a classy, comprehensive environment that wine, booze and beer lovers will find hard to hate. Aisles upon aisles of wine varietals, plenty of unique and commonly found spirits and a great beer selection (the only place I've been able to find the fine Latvian lager Luksus, believe it or not!) -- as beverage store selections go, this one is near the tops.

I wish I could say the same about the bathrooms, though. Housed in that aforementioned drywall corridor, the toilets here feel cheap, almost tacked on. These are colorless, even classless, facilities.

The walls are white, bare and porous, allowing you to hear just about every sound possible by the nearby string of cashiers. The floors, covered in rough-looking black and gray tile and dark grout, are dour-looking and appear dingier than they really are (or at least probably are). The fixtures are your standard white porcelain variety; clean and in good shape but boring and bland. There are no decorations on the wall or any sense of color anywhere.

Even worse is the sharp smell of urine that permeates the air in here. Really stinging, rivaling the stink more commonly associated with poorly kept gas station stalls. (What is it with fancy-looking stores that have foul smelling toilets? I'm looking at you, Fresh Market Orlando and Bed Bath and Beyond Waterford Lakes, for an answer here!) The smell was so bad, it rivaled the pungency of the toilet I visited at the Riverside Walk trail head in Zion National Park -- and that was an outhouse!

Marks out of 10:

4. Bland environment through and through -- with a smell that lingers long in the nose and palette. Great conceit for wine, not great for bathrooms, though.

Comments to the Management:

For starters, how about putting something on the walls here -- like a circular or some of those general wine vine decorations you can pick up at any dollar store. Next, put some air fresheners here -- you really need it!

Old Mining Shack Gets Style at LuLu Wilson

Lu Lu Wilson,

316 E. Hopkins Ave.,

Aspen, CO USA 81611


Where is it?

From the front door head towards the bar, and head towards the back. Pass the bar (making sure you stop before the kitchens) and on the left you’ll find the door to the toilet.


What’s it like?

Lulu Wilson’s is set in an old mining cabin built in 1893 that was later the home of a woman named of that name. A strikingly large chandelier dominates the place, but mirrors and, well-placed antique lighting fixtures and stark white walls soon distract you from it. This place gives you as much a feeling of history as anywhere in the US.

The food is pretty damned good as well. A quick stop for a main course, soon turned into a leisurely three courses with wine and tea. And the starter and main were pretty damned fantastic. I’d have to say the apple crumble wasn’t up to much. I certainly could have done a better job – and lets face it that is the basis we all use to decide the quality of a dessert – even if it was the chef’s grandmother’s recipe.

The antique feel is continued in the toilet. A great mirror and the towel holder are fantastic. This gives some interest. Otherwise these are perfectly comfortable toilets. Nothing stunning, for example the tile is pretty dull. But they are claen and fit the the rest of the restaurant totally.


Marks out of 10:

8. Slightly dark, but quality with it.


Comments to the management:

Why change what is perfectly good?

Carlsberg Akademi: Probably the Best Toilets in The World?

Carlsberg Akademi
Gamle Carlsberg Vej 15,
2500 Valby
Copenhagen
Denmark

http://www.carlsbergfondet.dk/Akademi/index.htm

Where is it?

Starting from the front entrance, follow through the hall and then head right. Follow the corridor taking the opportunity to glance in the library as you pass. Keep going into the summer house, maybe stopping off at the bar as you pass, again heading right into the main hall. Across to your left you’ll see the signs for the toilets.


What’s it like?

Carlsberg has some cool adverts in the UK. My favourite is the club with polite bouncers, loads of taxis, and service you and I will never have. Carlsberg don’t do clubs, but if they did they would probably be the best clubs in the world. But do their toilets come up to scratch.

The venue for this event was the Carlsberg Akademi near the centre of Copenhagen. The Akademi is part of a Carlsberg family bequest and used to be the owners’ family home. Knowing this place is next to the factory you might think it isn’t going to be up to much. You’d be wrong. It’s a small, but wonderfully proportioned stately home. Add the fact that functions here attract unlimited beer and you have to say it’s a fantastic venue. Probably the best bar in the world! But what about the toilets?

Hey. The verdict has to be that it is not that bad. It’s not got the flash of some toilets we visit, but for a turn 19th century toilet it’s comfy enough. It also has some classical features galore. The first thing you’ll notice even before you get there is the quaint little people painted on the wall. Is it just me, but they seem like the sort of people you could have a nice chat to on the way past. Friendly toilets signs are unusual things indeed. Then you’ll notice the solidity of the place. Brass fittings, a solid door, stylish and solid toilet and sink; all of them add to your certainly that someone in the past invested well.

Then you notice there are already residents. Rather pale ones, maybe because of the slight chill, but the classic friezes on the wall certainly add a talking point. Even though they don’t exactly look your way when you’re doing your stuff, it could be all a little unnerving if you had partaken in a little too much of the local product.


Marks out of 10:

9. Classic oddities that will amuse in a fantastic setting!


Comments to the management:

Some classic touches that will provide a talking point!

As Bathrooms at Car Dealerships Go, Raleigh's Johnson Lexus Is Tops

Johnson Lexus of Raleigh
5839 Capital Blvd.
Raleigh, NC USA 27616
nitra.lexusdealer.com/johnson-raleigh

Where is it?

From the drop-off area in the service section, head inside the building and follow the main hallway around until you come to a lobby in between the service department and the sales department.

The area has a modest coffee bar (serving free Starbucks coffee and various danish and pastries -- unlike, say, Lexus of Orlando, which makes you pay for this sort of stuff), business center, kids room, television lounge and more. The bathrooms are across the hall from the TV lounge.

What's it like?

I've been to only two Lexus dealerships in my life (this one and the aforementioned Lexus of Orlando), and both exude sense of luxury that seems more akin to high-end hotels like the Wynn Las Vegas or Mansion on Forsyth Park than a car dealership. (Hell, the Nissan dealership I bought my most recent car from was more traditional in terms of decor.)

Thanks to the abundance of art found on the walls here (nice art too, not just tacky stuff you'd buy at the bargain bin of Michael's Arts and Crafts or American Signature Furniture) this dealership often feels like an art gallery first and a car dealership second -- quite an accomplishment considering that most car dealerships offer little sense of comfort.

As mentioned earlier, you'll find plenty of distractions here, from a small cafe serving free coffee and pastries to a fully functioning business center to a very friendly staff that always seems ready to lend a hand. (In my customer survey on this place, which I filled out while waiting for my companion's car to be fixed -- an oil change -- I noted that my experience at this dealership was so good that I would considering driving up from Florida to experience it again..... which of course says perhaps a little too much about my opinion of my hometown Lexus dealership, which isn't bad but just not even remotely in the league of this establishment).

The bathrooms here are palatial and luxurious on many levels. Inside, you'll find cool marble tiles along the floor and walls, with a regal blue pattern set in to change up the monotony some. The two urinals are separated by a granite divider, and the two stall doors are separated by both granite (for the divider's foundations) and wood (for the doors themselves).

The stretching vanity counter is composed of a single piece of black granite, and the sink stations are well-spread out, offering the using lots of room (perhaps even too much) for use. Sinks and toilets are sensor-driven, though the soap dispensers and paper towel dispensers are not.

I'm not so much bothered by the latter, since automatic towel dispensers can be kind of a pain (especially in trying to get that second strip after you've already got your first). The soap dispenser is another matter, however -- and that's really the only flaw I found here. They are built into the walls on each end of the vanity, so that they bookend the structure. Because the vanity is so long, you have to stretch a good ways just to lather up your hands -- and because of that, the chances of spilling soap on your return trip are increased. Why not place automatic soap dispensers by the sinks instead of manual ones away from the sink? Seems like an awful long way to travel to get some soap.

Still, the place is spotless, everything is in working order (which is more than what I can say about my last visit to Lexus of Orlando) and the cleaning crew here pumps in a delectable air freshener. As Lexus dealership bathrooms go, this one is tops.

Marks out of 10:

9. Would have been a perfect 10 were it not for those soap dispensers.

Comments to the Management:

Great job here. The place is a true oasis. If you fix the issue with the soap dispensers, you'll be among the Where's the Toilet elite.