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Type: Chain
Region: Southeast
Location: Large shopping center on a highway
Appearance: 
Inventory:
Staff:
External appearance: Clearly visible and accessible in a large shopping center.
Window display: The large front windows held no attractive product displays. Instead, there were white partitions bearing sales posters—reminiscent of a thrift store.
Entrance: Open and well-lit, the entrance featured sales fliers and shopping baskets available for customers.
Layout and inventory: The front of the store had an organized layout, but this was somewhat deceiving, as the layout of the rest of the store was awkward and cramped. The aisles were uncomfortably narrow—not wide enough for one customer to comfortably pass another who had stopped to browse.
The inventory was excellent and it included Bible covers, Bible software, artwork and gift items.
There also was a variety of products geared for African-Americans, Hispanics, Messianic Jews and Catholics. The children’s section had diverse products, including plush toys, stickers, games and homeschool material.
Appearance: The front of the store had an open area with products attractively displayed on tables and shelves. However, the rest of the store appeared to be in disarray.
In the Bibles section, Bible covers were strewn in piles, making them difficult to view. Elsewhere, sheet music and curriculum were haphazardly hanging off shelves, and around the corner was an open door, revealing a messy stock room. T-shirts in the clothing section were in heaps. In the children’s section, toys were scattered on the floor—easy to trip over—while the two sitting areas were messy with fliers and products left behind by previous customers.
Staff: Two young ladies and a store manager, all dressed nicely and wearing store aprons, were easily identifiable. One of the assistants talked with a customer and compared various products that interested him. The other young lady, at the cash register, cheerfully greeted everyone who came into the store. The clerks and the manager all attended to customers in a timely manner, and they answered customer questions well.
Verdict: Tidy up! While the inventory was not lacking in any way, and the front of the store neatly displayed books and sale tables, the rest of the store was very difficult to navigate, and it felt like a picked-over bargain basement.
The staff was very pleasant and helpful, but they need to organize the store. It’s in a perfect location, with a lot of potential. Reorganize the books so that it’s easy to find things—and keep the stock room door closed. Consider restructuring the layout of the store to create at least 10 more inches of space in each aisle. Show off products by neatly displaying them in the storefront window, and reduce the amount of posters.
If this were your regular store? I would not visit very often until I saw the store taking pride in its inventory. Disorganized and strewn products send a silent message of disrespect to customers.
Would anyone feel comfortable here? Sadly, I overheard a customer say that she hated coming to this store because it was always a mess and that she wished she could have shopped at her regular Christian bookstore that day.
What will you remember of your visit a week from now? Nice staff, but what a mess. Shopping time should be pleasurable, not a time to fight through narrow aisles and sort through cluttered product displays.
THE STORE OWNER RESPONDS:  The store declined to respond.
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