Layout and inventory: Blue script written high on the walls indicated product categories throughout the store. Three gift nooks to the right, music at the back and fiction in the center. To the far left, in what could have originally been a separate storefront were Bibles and Christian education. A large Veggie Tales sign covered the blue "Children’s" department script on a back wall. A framed Narnia map and other Narnia product were directly beneath the Veggie banner. Both store televisions were turned off.

 

"Recommended" shelftalkers were stuck into shelves throughout the store. At the front of the store, a shelftalker was positioned under so many of the featured best-sellers, I wondered if the titles without the "recommended" cardboard were worth buying.

 

Appearance: Neat and tidy for the most part, although the overuse of shelftalkers was distracting.

 

Staff: When I entered the store, one of the two staffers talking behind the register offered a friendly, "Hi."

 When another customer entered, the same staffer greeted her by saying: "Hi. How are you doing? Are you finding everything you want?" When this customer had forgotten her loyalty card, the frontliner started another card for her. When I reached the register, neither frontliner asked if I had found everything or if I even had a loyalty card.

While checking out, I mentioned to the frontliner that the boxed cards were advertised as "buy two, get a third free." Two of the boxes I chose were marked with $5.99 stickers. The third box had no sticker. The frontliner asked his co-worker: "How much is this? $7.99?" She replied, "Oh, I think so." Until that moment, I thought I was getting a great deal—after all, I was getting a free box of cards. But when the frontliner seemed to pick a price out of the air, and did not verify the price anywhere, I wondered if I was being cheated.

 

Verdict: Use shelftalkers selectively. Increase authenticity by including the name of the specific staffer who is making the recommendation.

 

Remove the handwritten signs noting "Ask for assistance" that were taped to the wall near the T-shirts and elsewhere.

 The front windows offer a wide expanse of ad space: Use it.

 

If this were your regular store? Some product categories had a more limited selection than I’d need. For example, I needed several cloth wristbands from Kerusso. I ended up buying two from the four styles offered. I didn’t recognize the brand, and they appear to be lower quality than Kerusso’s.

Would a non-Christian feel comfortable here? Comfortable, but not necessarily welcomed.

 

What will you remember of your visit a week from now? I felt slighted. The other customer obviously received more attentive service than me.