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TYPE: Chain
Region: West
Location: In a suburban area, directly across
the street from a large, well-known church without a bookstore
APPEARANCE: 0
INVENTORY: 
STAFF: 0
External appearance: Despite the familiar chain’s sign mounted on a tall pole, the store was easily missed, tucked behind a beauty salon and across a littered parking lot from a convenience store.
Window display: The glass of both front doors, on either side of the register, was heavily smudged with fingerprints, suggesting it had not been cleaned in some time. A large “Clearance Sale” sign almost completely filled the expanse of one of the doors.
Entrance: A neon “open” sign was lit above one of the front doors.
Layout and inventory: The Bible area, to the front, was well-organized, with translation signage above various sections and Bible covers neatly displayed, but things went downhill further inside.
Scraps of paper littered the carpet. The clearly marked Fiction section at the rear of the store was blocked for access by 31 boxes, most unopened. The adjacent Church Supply area overflowed onto the floor, with an expensive communion cup tray with lid askew tilted precariously on some boxes.
In the Music area, standard racks showcased face-front CDs, neatly labeled and alphabetically organized. But against the wall was an entire empty section, with bits and pieces obviously left over from previous in-store merchandising displays.
The television, hanging from above, played a video while different music played throughout the store. A second television, hanging above the children’s area, was filled with “snow.”
The floor seemed to be used for overflow product in various places: a stack of videos on the floor, gift bags teetering in a pile, plush products on the floor in the children’s area.
Meanwhile, empty shelves and endcaps dotted the store. Boxes labeled with black Magic Marker lettering were stashed above the shelves in the entire left half of the store.
In the children’s area, a stack of books on the floor was almost toppling over. Two piles of gift bags were piled high under a bag rack. Kiosks at the front displayed sale items, including a section for Christmas clearance with a stack of six boxed ornaments dated more than a year previously.
The unisex bathroom at the rear of the store was a nightmare—peeling wallpaper, a ring around the toilet, no paper towels, something sticky on the floor, mops leaning against the wall and book racks stashed in the room, making it hard to move.
Staff: Two female frontliners were on duty, heavily engaged in conversation with one another and apparently unaware that there were customers in the store. They didn’t seem to notice when the background music suddenly switched off.
Verdict: Match space to inventory. Use the store to display product and a backroom to store product. Hire a cleaning service. Teach frontliners the basics of customer service.
If this were your regular store? I would shop at a different Christian chain store about 15 minutes away.
Would a non-Christian feel comfortable here? Only if they are accustomed to self-service and don’t need to use the bathroom.
What will you remember of your visit? Feeling embarrassed that I brought someone along with me.
THE STORE RESPONDS:  Store management declined to respond.
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