Type: independent

Region: Northwest

Location: back corner of a strip center in a middle-class suburb

Appearance:

Inventory

Staff

External appearance: The phone-book ad promised "over 7,000 square feet of Christian products," but even anticipating a large store at a specific address, extensive sign clutter in front of the horseshoe-shaped strip made it difficult to find the store.

Window display: Viewing through large front windows was hindered by the crisscross of black security gates; display rounders and a large collection of Demdaco figurines on glass shelves were visible where the gates had been almost completely folded back.

Entrance: The store Web address, security system logo and a list of shopping hours were posted on the double glass doors. A variety of store and product fliers lay on a small round table immediately to the left. A long, low display right in front of the entrance highlighted best-sellers and new releases. A floor-to-ceiling mirrored slat wall on the far right served as a backdrop for framed art. Track lights spotlighted numerous smudges, easily visible from across the store.

Layout and inventory: White, 4-foot-high shelf units throughout emphasized the expansive space.  A lighted neon "Clearance" sign hung above the front left corner. Remainders were clearly organized with appropriate signage representing every book category in this big area. Books with 20 or more copies were double stacked, so nothing was in danger of falling over.

The music department was also large, with four wall-mounted televisions showing a music video and 10 listening posts. A square acrylic box was neatly labeled with a sign: "Please put demos in here. We will gladly re-shelve them for you."

The adjacent children's department had signage dividing titles into age ranges of 0-3, 4-6, 7-9 and 8-12. A carpeted, multilevel seating section was positioned in front of a television in a small room next to the department, with full-length glass doors making it completely visible-though the doors could be closed to keep the VeggieTale video playing from distracting customers.

Two posts near the center of the store were labeled "Customer service" on each of the four sides. Each post had a white counter built around it, one featuring a store computer, the other coffeepots. Newspaper racks offered a variety of local Christian publications, including a stack of eight-month-old Hebrew Christian newspapers.

Appearance: The white shelves with clear signage gave a fresh appearance. The clear organization made it easy to find product.

Staff: The two young female frontliners wore black cobbler aprons, which somewhat successfully hid a low-cut tank top worn by one. They responded promptly to a request for fresh coffee to fill the empty pot and an inquiry about a special order.

However, they also chatted between themselves across store departments, when they could have been doing some badly needed tidying--straightening shelves, picking up sugar wrappers from the coffee area--or checking with customers. No one spoke to me during my 30 minutes inside until I checked out.

Verdict: Reposition teen books near the music. Teens wouldn't look for their books between adult "holy hardware" (crosses, knick-knacks and décor) and humor books.

Few customers will see the community bulletin board in the short hallway near the bathroom. Clean up the board and reposition in a more visible location.

If this were your regular store? There's an extensive and well-organized inventory, but the dirty parking lot and bits of clutter and messiness inside were bothersome; I'd probably shop elsewhere.

Would a non-Christian feel comfortable here? Yes.  It has an impersonal big-box feel, but the clear organization makes self-service shopping easy.

What will you remember of your visit a week from now? The accessible location.

THE STORE (MANAGER/OWNER) RESPONDS: "Thank you for your comments. Feedback is always appreciated. Some of the observations made were definitely a snapshot into a particular day in our store, and other comments were eye-opening. Our store is generally known as a clean, well-organized place to shop, with excellent customer service. Many of our customers do have stores that are closer to them but choose to frequent our store due to our service, selection and atmosphere. The review states that we are in a middle-class suburb, which is very misleading. Our store is located in a high crime area of a city. Often our staff deals with homeless people, and drug dealing is unfortunately done in our parking lot. For more than 20 years, our store has been a bright spot in an area that is deteriorating. We have thought of relocating, but for now we will focus on improving our store based on the review comments, while continuing to represent Jesus in this area."