Creativity at The Mall?OBSERVATION LAB

Shared Spaces

Each store shared a space with 20' ceilingsand a basic neutral color scheme... namely tan. Each of the stores had open entranceways about 20' wide.

One store was an exception to the rule, I will discuss that when I reach it.

Now & ThenCONSIGNMENT

Opportunities for improvement were everywhere. While this shops provided most everything it promised there were still problems.

As a result of the grouping by prices a lot of womens size 7 could be found all over on a variety of racks. Some were at the front, some were at the back, some were in a large mixed bag rack. I still don't know what the common denominator was for that rack.

Smells refreshingly clean! (Particularly afterthe game shop)

I have rarely ventured into this store, the entryway is flanked by two theft detectors standing accusingly at attention. After those you must pass through layers of no less than three employees waiting to make a sale. In the ten minutes I spent I was asked four times whether I needed help, whether I had found everything I needed, and if I had any questions.

That said the interior was beautiful. This was the exception to the shared space rule. They utilized their space brilliantly. It was the width of two stores and they had removed the unfortunate drop ceilings prevalent in the other stores. They had revealed the HVAC system overhead but painted it all an eggshell white. It adds an industrial appeal to a modern sport shop. Wooden laminate floors resemble that of a gymnasium and lend an elegance and professionalism to what is truly a beautiful store.

The majority of customers were male, but not as many as I had suspected. About 35% of the clientele were females.

A bold red sign invites the customer into the metal framed doorway. The store is wide open, well lit and approachable. While it keeps the ugly drop ceiling, at least all its lights are in working order and there are no missing squares. The store is well arranged with a display of fairly priced sweatshirts the first display a customer comes in contact with. Most customers veer right avoiding the register as they do at most stores. I assume it is for a similar reason that I, myself, avoids the closer route. Pushy salespeople. In a store where you just want to browse, you do not constantly want to be asked which items you are looking for.

For the first time since I'd arrived at the mall, the customer base was pretty even in the lines of gender, the merchandise was evenly divided between the two. The employees did not wear uniforms but all dressed nicely in the type of clothing you would find on the shelves and racks.

Almost everyone was just browsing through the selections, even so, about 60% of the customers seemed to be sales. Aeropostale, while not my sort of store, seems to be doing pretty well.

DEB shop, which seems clearly directed towards the teenage girl, has a remarkably varied clientele. While the customers are almost exclusively female, I would say 95%, the ages can range from 14 to 60 years old!The merchandise is spread out evenly, not too congested, not too sparse, and accessible even to wheelchairs. They lure you in with a large window display of beautiful seasonal gowns, and the best of their clothing. The racks are filled with the average fair. The discount items are in the back on a rack by the dressing rooms. To reach it, you have to travel through the entire store and passed the register once you leave. They are luring customers in, and it works. About 40% of the customers seem to purchase one thing or another, 70% of those that make it all the way back to the discount area. On average, the clothing is about 20% cheaper than those at Aeropostale. This is probably a major motivator for most of the browsing visitors and a reason the discount rack tactic works so well for them.

Got questions we have... well we have phones? Would you like a phone? RadioShack's slogan may need a little upgrading. While it certainly looks like a store for the tech savvy, featuring monitors and remote control toys and yes, even phones, the 3 out of 4 employees know nothing about transistors or soldering techniques, it is all phones phones phones. So it should come as no surprise that the featured products are.. well.. phones! Everything else is incidental, and it shows. Everything else is shoved against the wall, or in bins at the back of the store where no employee treads. They are all busily hovering around the kiosks ready to make a commissioned sale.

That said the store itself is clean, and decently maintained. It is not an entirely unpleasant experience as long as you know what you're looking for already, or you're looking for a phone. Sale items are in the kiosk following the two mobile kiosks, however, sales are not always going on and so often it is simply stuffed with whatever did not fit anywhere else.

The register on the right side of the store does hold several impulse buys, even electronically themed ones, such as batteries and sets of small screwdrivers. While they differentiatd their store from the average, it still has a long way to go to stand out as impressively as MC SPORTS.

Creativity at the mall?

Apparently not much!