External appearance: Red store letters prominent below the green roof. Paint was peeling off the tan building exterior.

Window display: Through the store windows, in one corner, blinds were open to reveal an empty office with two tables, a chair and a bench. Concert posters were hanging on an interior window. Through another side window, someone was sitting on a window seat reading.

Entrance: Gray trash cans sat outside the store on both sides of the double door entry. Blue shopping baskets were at the entrance with Bob Siemon Designs rounders on both sides of the entry. Straight ahead, a huge arrow with a large “clearance” sign hung from the ceiling, pointing to a table at store center. Eighteen feet of double-sided card racks were to the right, adjacent to seven gift kiosks.

Layout and inventory: To the right were 30 acrylic T-shirt squares on the wall with white wire racks of folded shirts underneath.

Twelve choir robes hung on a wall-mounted, slanted rack, with hymnals, choral music and keyboard music next. A 40-hook purse rounder was filled with large bags. CDs were face-front in labeled categories. The music refund and exchange policy was posted in numerous places throughout the department. A smaller purse rack and billfold display was to the right of a long counter that held two boom boxes and headsets. Other listening posts and two computers were along the back wall. A Chonda Pierce video played above on a television.

Next were three nooks with framed art. A rack of Soul Mates shoes was mounted on the wall next to the restroom.

A desk and chair sat along the back wall at store center. Framed-art order forms and a notebook of art offerings sat on the desk. Framed art hung on all walls, and the wooden floor in this area could be used for gatherings.

The children’s department was separated from the main store by a short wall with open, pass-through sections, so customers could clearly see into the store. The Chonda Pierce soundtrack, which was also heard in the children’s department, competed with the VeggieTales DVD shown on one of three televisions in a corner tower.

Twelve VBS-themed footprints led to a VBS display in front of the short wall. Church supplies were at the far back left corner. Two white wooden units held communion ware. Christian and American flags were on stands. Throughout the store, yellow “special price” tags were in shelf-talker format.

The left side of the store was all books. Along the far left wall, the Bible area included commentaries, studies, reference and Christian growth.  Two maroon chairs and a small table with pencils and note paper were in front of the Bible cases, which hung on the front wall near the register. Product overstock was displayed face-front on wall shelves in the Bible and children’s areas.

Appearance: Product was neatly shelved or displayed appropriately in well-signed categories. However, the building itself needed maintenance.

Staff: Exceptional. Immediately upon entering, we were welcomed by a frontliner working at one of the four registers. Throughout our visit, we were asked at least once or twice, “Are you finding everything?” The multiple staffers, wearing maroon logo shirts, were not bothersome, but appeared genuinely willing to assist.

The frontliner unpacking product in the large clearance section engaged shoppers in casual conversation as they passed through the store center.

Verdict: The paint peeling off the exterior did not hint at the well-stocked, well-served store inside. When sprucing up the exterior, use a lighter wall color in store back, and replace the ragged carpet in the children’s area.

Move Guitar Praise and Dance Praise. Tweens and teens won’t look for these products in the current location, next to the VeggieTales finger-puppet theater.

If this were your regular store? Great!

Would a non-Christian feel comfortable here? Yes.

What will you remember of your visit a week from now? The attentive frontliners. Anyone who criticizes customer service at chains has not visited this store.

The manager declined to comment.