A few years ago, the school pulled their mercs out to replace them with 4x F54T5 highbay fixtures. Don't get me wrong, the fixtures are good, they are programmed start and only four tubes have died just from ball related incidents. The old mercs were all either /W or/DX, giving a balance in the color spectrum, making everything look like it should. When they put in the new fluorescent high bay fixtures, they were all 3000ishK, making the red and blue bleachers look orange and dark blue. The custodians realized what they did made everything look off, so they replaced every tube with cool white except for the lights above the bleachers. It looks a lot better now; the bleachers look normal. The only problem now is that the middle of the gym looks like Antarctica. My question is why do they choose certain color temperatures for certain areas? The local Walmart uses cool white, making the place reminiscent of a hospital, and best buy uses 3500k, making everything look fine.

It is not only the lamps, but as well the color scheme of the painting,...
Usually warmer painting (yellow, red,...) likes colder lamp colors and vice versa.
The "hospital" look is not just from the lights, but as well from "sterile" color scheme.
On the other hand when the gym was equipped e.g. in wooden finish, the 3000K warm white may look too darkish, so the 4000K could be better there.

And of course, all the lighting color tones are highly individual. You may trace some preferences of colder light tones (4..6k) in the warmer climate and warmer color (2700K or even 2500K) in the colder north areas.

And what is important as well is the other light you can not change (daylight,...) - light sources with too different color temperatures do not mix well (create colored shadows)...

Many places are just completely oblivious of color temperatures. They choose tubes based on what is in stock, then as lamps go out you get mix of colors. Seen quite a lot of times 4x14w T5 lantern with 2 and 3 color temperatures mixed in it (none of that is intentional)

Since all the lamps basically use the same 3 phosphor types (just in different blends) the resulting light is just the avearage of them in K, not anyting special or of exceptional CRI etc. Shadows look funny though

If the different colors get mixed well before leaving the light fixture (so all go from practically a single place), there is usually no issue at all, regardless what colors and what technologies are mixed there (narrow multi-band, with halophosphate,... - no problem mixing them at all).
What makes some discomfort are the different colors from different directions and the shadows...

Many places are just completely oblivious of color temperatures. They choose tubes based on what is in stock, then as lamps go out you get mix of colors. Seen quite a lot of times 4x14w T5 lantern with 2 and 3 color temperatures mixed in it (none of that is intentional)

it sort of irks me that when a single lamp dies in a 4x f40 fixture, they replace the original cool white with a kitchen and bath. I also dislike when they relamp preheat fixtures without replacement of stuck starters, then they replace with electronic T8 garbage.
 
Back to the topic, I agree with Medved on the 'sterile' color scheme of places; Walmart stores are painted very drab grey and white ceiling and floor tiles. Also, the gym was all white walled, until they painted the wall red for five cinder blocks high and then one cinder block of red. That took your eyes off of the color temp difference around where the bleacher warm light transitions to the cool middle-of-gym light. 

Also, the only time I've seen warm colored fluorescent lighting is around the deli area, in an effort to warm up customers per se. The deli cases also have special heater fluorescent tubes installed, along with Quartz halogen tubes that are in the metal she'll of the case.

The special fluorescents for meat or deli displays are not heat fluorescents, but their spectrum has suppressed green component, so the meat product appear fresher underneath (a kind of cheating on customers - even greened out salami looks fresh there)

Ok thanks for clearing that up. I've always noticed how the popcorn chicken looks so tasty when in the case but once you walk into the cool white store, the chicken looks pale and soggy, whit it sort of already is. 

I also noticed that there is 2700-3500k lighting in the waiting room and halls of the hospital, but the rooms are 4100-6500K. It makes the hospital feel colder than it is already. 

Here hospitals are mostly 6500K, but it does not look exceptionally cold or anything, its just the same as everywhere else....

The hospitals are always about 60°f regardless of season, adding to the cold effect.

Here in Québec the well-known Pharmaprix convenient/drugstores have been switching from standard cool white to 3500K using fluorescent and MH lamps. By doing so, they give a cosy, chic, urban style to their stores.

I knew a grocery store that used White SON HPS lamps, which gave a very warm 2500K atmosphere. This store was located underground with a somewhat low ceiling height, and the brand had a chic image: so the Whote SON lamps provided a kind of "vintage market" feeling, which as successful IMHO despite the unusual CCT for this kind of business.

On the other side of the colour, the Montreal Transit Corporation used high-CRI T12 950 "Natural Sunshine" tubes in a few stations. I liked them very much because I had the feeling of natural lighting. Unfortunately they had to replace all the ballasts and use more efficient T8 tubes, so they switched to a standard 840 colour.

About the smallest places such as convenient stores, small restaurants, etc., I've noticed that the coldest the country, the warmest the CCT, and vice-versa. The typical Irish pub use very warm incandescent lighting, while the typical Canarian or Haitian restaurant uses "fresh" 6500K tubes.

When I was in Florida I was noticing that all places had cold color temps except for hotels lobbies (and my timeshare) as well as the welcome area. The interior of the timeshare rooms were warm white CFLs except the kitchen whic was cool white.