TYPE: Independent

REGION: Southeast

LOCATION: On a bustling city road, in its own building but near other businesses

FIVE-STAR RATING:

INVENTORY:

STAFF:

External appearance: The sign for the store was clearly visible from the road, but rust was covering about a third of it. There was plenty of parking, and the store hours, Monday-Saturday 9 a.m.-9 p.m., were clearly visible upon approach. The area around the store was landscaped.

Window display: The windows were tinted, which made the posted store hours stand out more.

Entrance: On the door, a sign warned parents that the store was not childproof, and that they should watch their children. Other signs advertised a new VeggieTales movie release and a 50% clearance on Christmas books. The entrance hallway was lined with advertisements and Christian posters. A stand holding a customer survey sat near the door. Also in the hallway was a table full of brightly colored announcements from local churches with a posted sign that business cards or announcements would be removed.

Layout and inventory: The store was huge, with an impressive inventory. Directly in front of the entrance was the checkout, enclosed in a walled-off circular area. To the right was a large selection of gifts, including baptism, confirmation, framed art and gifts specific to moms, dads and others. Two long racks of cards were full on both sides. Gift bags were also available. Beyond the gifts was customer service with a large sign above the window and an employee on the phone. Beyond customer service, a small, poorly lit space held hearing-impaired and Sunday school products.

To the left at the back of the store were Bibles, categorized by translation, with a wall full of Bible covers in every imaginable form. Toward the front left side of the store were books, with two rows of sale product closest to the entrance. Behind the sale product, the books were categorized by subject, including fiction, Christian living and needs like grief and addictions.

In the middle of the store was a large section of music, down a few steps and encircled by a railing. Five CD players were set up with headphones on tables with chairs around the edge of the section. Also at the back sat an employee station with a computer. Up the stairs on the other side and around the edge of the store was a wide selection of church supplies, including clergy apparel, bulletins, communion ware and candles.

Directly behind the register was a display full of ancillary products related to an upcoming VeggieTales movie. To the left of that was the children’s section with brightly colored walls and displays. This seemed to be the only place in the store with supplier merchandising displays.

From the front of the store to the left was a windowed but enclosed room full of Spanish products—appropriate for the area’s large Spanish-speaking community—including books, gifts and music. Two listening stations were near the music in the Spanish section. All bookshelves were below the eye line, so it was possible to see other sections except for the Spanish section. Signs for the sections throughout the store were printed from a computer on bright yellow paper, clearly visible to shoppers.

Appearance: Organized clearly and logically, the store was neat and in order. The only mess was where a worker was restocking church supplies. The signage was ultra simple, and the store was not glitzy, but the impressive selection left me focused on the products, not the atmosphere.

Staff: The staff was helpful—one frontliner asked twice if I needed help but then remembered that she had asked before. Another, who was busily moving some products, smiled at me as she passed.

Verdict: This store seemed to have everything, so the empty rack and spinner between the VeggieTales display and the children’s section seemed out of place. Fill those, and place advertisements in the empty holders on the bathroom stall doors. Also, remove the price tag from the basket holding paper towels.

If this were your regular store? I would be able to find anything I needed, though I wouldn’t come just to hang out.

Would a non-Christian feel comfortable here? This store is saturated in Christian culture, so it would not normally draw non-Christian visitors. Non-Christians would probably feel out of the loop when inside the store.

What will you remember of your visit a week from now? How impressive it was that the store could carry so many products and how encouraged I was to see a Christian bookstore that seemed to be doing well.

We are grateful for the Mystery Shopper visit. We sincerely seek to hear what our customers think and how they feel about our store. Our Customer Survey forms that are available for our customers have always been a valuable tool to measure our strengths and weaknesses. Our store is indeed saturated in Christian culture, and knowing this we seek to make non-Christian visitors welcomed and comfortable with friendly and caring service. It does indeed concern us that non-Christians may feel out of loop when inside our store. We are confident or hopeful that such feelings would only be their first impression only to be removed after speaking with one of our staff or frontliners. We have always been careful through staff training to attempt to make all faiths feel welcomed in our store, including Catholics and non-Christians. We will seek to yet improve this. Our store is not glitzy by any means. As a mom-and-pop store, we made the decision years ago to put more money into product selection and customer service technology ahead of glitzy. This decision has helped us grow from 900 to 12,000 square feet. All our staff know very well that empty shelves or displays and any mess on the floor is a sure way to get personal attention from the boss. Thank you for your visit. We are grateful for all your suggestions.

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