What Kind of an Impression Does Your Store Make?

Sometimes even the best stores can go wrong. One weekend, my friend Nancy and I met in Manhattan take advantage of one of the wonderful things that New York City has to offer - its museums. Even though we both work in "the city," we rarely have the opportunity to visit its wonderful cultural venues. Of course, after we finished our visit to the exhibition, a visit to the museum's gift shop was in order - and a wonderful shop it is, beautifully merchandised, great selection of gifts, books, stationery, housewares and decorative accessories.

But as I turned the corner around one display of goodies, what to my wondering eyes should appear? An abandoned broom and a pile of dirt and other sweepings forgotten in a corner!

It was a busy weekend and the store was packed with people. Probably one of the staff got interrupted by a rush of business early in the day, left his/her chore to serve a customer and forgot to go back and finish cleaning up.

At this busiest time of the retail year, make sure that your store does not make the wrong impression on your customers. My example is not a matter of displays turned upside down and left untidy by customers in their quest for the perfect gift; it is a housekeeping chore left unfinished in plain view.

Although this incident will not deter me from going back to the museum or its gift shop, it certainly made an impression on me - a somewhat negative one, and that's not how you want your customers to perceive your store. It showed a lack of oversight, attention to detail and caring on the part of the manager and its staff.