Lost In The Supermarket

Hello my fancy friends! You are so amazing and I’m so happy to be here with you again at last. And I want to get really personal today. I want to talk about your hopes and dreams. We all have pie in sky visions of what we’d like to be when we grow up or what we’d do if we had some big windfall and didn’t have to worry about the day-to-day tasks that can give us so much agita. For many of us, this includes the day dream of having your very own store. We could sell clothing, jewelry, vintage goods, bath and body products, coffee, the list just goes on and on.  I think most of us at one point have had some kind of a dream of opening a specialty store if the circumstances were right, but what if you’re ready to take this idea to the next level? Maybe you’ve found the perfect shop with a for rent sign in the window. Maybe your home has room to spare and you’re converting a room or two into a dedicate side gig palace, if the powers that be in the zoning department will permit it. There are plenty of logical things to sort out, but your creativity and vision for what the store will look like is a powerful source of magic and genius, and today we are looking at the big rules of retail design. So whether you’re fulfilling your lifelong fantasy of being a shopkeep, or just an avid shopper interested in the psychology of selling, this episode will give you all the tips on how to navigate the art of brick and mortar stores.

But first, let’s talk about the Color of the Week. The new HBO series the Last Of Us has put the fantastic fungi variety of Cordyceps into the spotlight. While normally a totally benign, if not healthy shroom to ingest, in the show, global warming has caused the species to mutate and create zombie-like infected humans. This has many people questioning the consumption of this particular variety of mushroom, but fear not, cordyceps have been used for more than 1,500 years in Chinese medicine and are considered safe in this reality. We see a lot of this fungus depicted in the show in all kinds of amazing colors, but in their natural state, they look like a handful of Cheetos growing up from the ground. That’s why this week’s color is Pantone P-17-8 C, a sunny hue that borders between yellow and orange. This color is surprisingly versatile and works with an array of different color palettes. It can bring out the warm undertones in wood flooring, be the primary pop on your kitchen cabinets, or work as a juicy accent in an otherwise earth-toned scheme. If you want to go super 70’s with it, try using an analogous color scheme with goldenrod yellow and dark rusty red. If you’re lost in the darkness, look for the bright orange.

The experience of shopping can feel like an intuitive flow through a seamless path of spaces or, at its worst, like a nightmarish hellscape of overstimulation and disorganization. We are going to dissect the building blocks of a great store so that you can use them with ease, whether it’s the store of your dreams, or the one that you’re opening next year.

As with most things in interior design, it all starts with the layout. We imagine the space from a birds-eye view, and consider how to organize the various elements. Most stores consist mainly of a mix of eye-catching product displays and easily accessible items for purchase. This results in a lot of storage pieces for both of those categories, which are referred to as fixtures. These can be elaborate, custom, semi-permanent or built in place creations; or they can be as simple as a wire shelving system. This is where your goods for purchase will live, and the first step is deciding how to organize these fixtures from that birds-eye-view, so let’s look at the four main industry standards and talk about the pro’s and cons of each one. All four of these layout styles can be used in different combinations, especially the grid layout, which can work it’s way into the smallest corner of any store, but you’ll want to have one as your overall organizing chaperone who will never leave your side.

We’ll start with my personal favorite, the Racetrack. This is great for big, giant shops like old school department stores and everything stores like Target. The idea is to have a clear, clean, wide path that makes one big loop around the whole store. There’s product in the middle of the loop, and product all along the edges, so it’s like you’re running the Presidential Fitness mile with merchandise to your left and right. This system makes it less likely that someone will get lost or turned around, because they can just keep moving forward and eventually get to everywhere in the store. It can be a little redundant in smaller stores where there is less room available for circulation and movement, where you might only be able to have one linear path through the store. And there’s definitely something about this layout that screams corporate big box vibes, so while ingeniously practical and efficient, let’s explore some alternatives that have more boutique sensibilities. 

The almost total opposite of a race track  is the free flow or geometric floor plan.  Think of the layout of an art gallery. It’s spacious, seemingly random, but curated to instinctively lead you through a meandering, invisible path that can put you in an absolute trance, and make you think you must buy that artisanal necklace or handmade ceramic tea cup. This layout is perfect if you want to be selective with your inventory, and exude a feeling of truly high-end, exclusive shopping. But it does take time and care with an expert store planner to make a layout like this work, so steer clear of this concept if you want to get your store laid out quickly or you want to have a densely packed shop with lots of merchandise.

Then, there’s the forced path plan, which is a similar experience to the free flow, but rather than wandering as you please, you are flowing the yellow brick road. And if you have any good examples of this besides, Ikea, let me know because I cannot think of another store that does this, at least not to that high level of proficiency. Forced path layouts take you on a journey through expertly designed displays that show your products in action. They are excellent at getting customers to understand and visualize how to integrate your merchandise into their lives. Forced path stores require a lot of space, careful and thoughtful design of every square inch, and can be a little annoying if customers need to back track for any reason. But they do also encourage impulse purchasing because you’re showing them how one product works with another and another and another, and doesn’t everything look so good when you get the whole set, or with that extra accessory. Plus customers have to kind of commit to wandering the full store so it’s easy to loose track of time and just get into shopping mode.

The most straight forward layout is the grid. This is when shelving and displays are organized in rows and columns with clear aisles in-between each for easy maneuvering around the store. This is used by chains like Apple, Sephora, and even your local grocery store; which gives you an idea of how many variables are involved with this simple style, because Apple stores do not feel like Krogers, even though they are effectively organized the same way. You can have fun by taking the typical grid and rotating it in our birds-eye view 45 degrees to create an angled layout. This will make more interesting and dynamic paths for shoppers, but it won’t save you square feet or let you get any extra product in. Either straight or angled, pay attention to how tall the fixtures are. Grocery store shelves are a very different height from boutique glass cases, even though both are typically arranged in a grid. Building shelves that stretch almost to the ceiling, in order to pack in as much product as possible, gives a very different feeling than chic wood parsons tables with carefully and graciously spaced out products. Plus shoppers can see the whole store at once with low fixtures so they might eye something they want from across the room. 

This leads us towards a little tangent topic, that I’ve touch on a bit already, the density in your dream store. Product density is a measurement that indicates the quantity of goods vs the available space in a store. Luxury stores tend to have low density, meaning, lots of open space, not a lot of items out on the floor. This means either, the bulk of the items are hidden away in another private room or may need to be custom ordered. On the opposite end of the spectrum, stores that value cost savings, will use every available square inch of their space to display items for purchase. The most dramatic example that comes to mind would be packed second hand furniture stores like Mother of Junk or Reuse America here in Brooklyn, where the ability to even walk in-between aisles is questionable because there’s so much product. On the floor, on the walls, on ceilings, everywhere. Some might say this is part of the store’s no-frills charm, and shoppers get a sense of going straight to the source for a good deal. And of course most stores fall somewhere in between these two extremes, so it’s the shop owner’s decision (that’s you), how much curated luxury vs bargain approachability should be communicated. 

Then, there’s the topic of clearance, and I don’t mean deep discounting and 90% off sales, I’m talking about the clear area in the store that’s meant for shoppers to move around. If you expect a good amount of shopper traffic, it’s wise to place fixtures and displays in rows with enough space for two people to walk down the aisles, side-by-side or in opposite directions, at the same time. That could be anywhere from five to eight feet in a comfortable scenario, but smaller shops will squeeze on down to a mere three feet if cramming in product is the goal. This is also a great time to factor in accessibility, which is of course referring to making accommodations for anyone with a physical disability and particularly those with mobility aids like canes, walkers, and wheelchairs. The official head count as of recent studies is that 19% of Americans qualify as disabled, and that’s nearing a quarter of the population that you want to welcome into your amazing store. 

There needs to be a clear path that is a minimum of three feet all the way around the store, but honestly the wider the better. And if you have a big store that’s longer than 200 feet, you have to include a five foot by five foot passing area along the main path of travel. Keep in mind, meeting and exceeding this legal requirement also makes the store more accessible for people with strollers, deliveries, and just helps the store feel more open. It’s also important to have clear space for a wheelchair or stroller to actually just be in the space. We talk a lot about wheelchairs being able to get in and out, but they also need to be able to stop and browse displays. We’re going to include a few places to sit too for those who need or want it, and we’ll talk more about that in a minute. So factoring in clear space for parked wheelchairs, plus the space you need for another person to get by, aisles and clear space starts to get wider and wider. This may seem like it’s taking away precious space for merchandise, but insuring that any public space is easily accessible is absolutely critical in maximizing customer traffic. If you have a friend or family member that uses a mobility aid (which includes strollers for kids), it’s common to have a mental list of all kinds of places that are and are not easily to get around in, from restaurants to library branches. And accessibility isn’t just about extra space, it’s also about providing clear, easy to read signage, lower transaction counters, and how merchandise is arranged. 

There’s a sweet spot in terms of height for how high or low products are placed on shelves. The accepted reach range measures as a distance from the floor, so above 15 inches but no higher than 48 inches . So you’ll want to avoid that bottom shelf that sits directly on the floor, and anything higher than four feet should be considered more for display purposes. And this all works out because the average human eye level is around 65 inches, so you can focus that higher area for dazzling displays and feature shoppable product just below. Okay and one last little tip, this might seem obviously, but seriously, if there is heavier merchandise, place it on the lower shelves, and the lighter items go on the higher shelves. That will make things easy to grab, move, and purchase.

Okay so that’s the overview on the layout organization of your store - racetrack, free flow, forced path, or grid. And no matter what you chose, make the store accessible for all people. Once you’ve selected how to layout your store, you’ll want to think about adding another layer of zones. Zoning a store is the process of designating areas in our birds-eye-view that are dedicated to specific tasks and even product specialities. Zones are critical in keeping the store organized and easy to navigate. 

The three main zones you’ll want to have are what I call display, pay, and play. You’ll need to have a zone meant solely for the display of your product. These displays, as opposed to the fixtures we talked about earlier, are intentionally temporary. They can be updated seasonally with your newest items, or switched up as often as every week. Displays should be highly visible when a shopper enters the store and, in some cases, eye catching from the street. The display area can be as large or as small as you want it to be. Most small stores only dedicate a foot or two in front of the main store windows to display. But in cases like the forced path layout, you can let it take up over half of your store. The important thing to consider is that this area is not normally shoppable, so while it serves to get customers excited about your product, because these are often carefully arranged, almost sculpture like creations, customers are often discouraged from interacting with displays directly, but can find the products shown nearby for purchase. There are of course interactive displays that encourage customers to touch, but this is a speciality that requires more thought and consideration as product can get damaged in the process, which we don’t love.

But this is your chance to get really creative. Your vision for why the store exists int he first place can be manifested in the visual displays through out the store. There’s opportunity not only to celebrate the beauty, uniqueness, and usefulness of your products, but to also practice cross merchandising - showing your customers how products can work together to be even more spectacular. This not only makes displays more engaging, it also incentives customers to buy more from you. Peanut butter is great on its own, but have you tried adding jelly? That’s next level stuff. You can even solve customers problems this way, clothing stores demonstrate how to put together whole outfits through their displays, which can be a daunting task for many people. So you come in to buy a new pair of jeans, and leave with a belt, a new sweater, and shoes (I’m looking at you Madewell) plus a little confidence boost that these items work in harmony together. 

If you’re like me, I need visual references to really get the gears in my head turning, and there are so many iconic stores with breathtaking displays, whether it’s the work of Simon Doonan in the windows at Barney’s, the iconic set-ups at Selfridges in London, the creative millennial whimsy of Anthropology, or even the massive set ups we see in an American mega grocery store. Who doesn’t love seeing a giant wall of 24 case seltzer water?  The next time you’re out on a shopping trip, notice what displays your eye is drawn to, and try to decipher why. Good displays have a few key characteristics.

They create a WOW moment. In terms of interior design terminology, in your store, a featured display should be the highest level of hierarchy - it should be the first thing that naturally draws the eye’s attention. You can do this with color - having bright poppy shades that scream look at me. Hierarchy can be achieved by repetition, like the grocery store seltzer stack I mentioned earlier, it’s very a Andy Warhol vibe. Or you can do it with scale. The display can be the tallest or largest thing in the store, and by a landslide. Take whatever you’re thinking, and double it. Visual merchandising is all about creating a memorable scene, so don’t be afraid to push out of your comfort zone.

Speaking of Zones, the next area is the play area, this is a dedicated portion of the store for decompression, relaxation, and non-shopping activities. This is critical for keeping customers in your store for extended periods of time. I remember when big book stores like Barnes and Noble and Borders first got popular, you could spend hours there, browsing books, reading, and even getting a cup of coffee and pastry. Now small business owners might not have the bandwidth to have a whole second business inside their store, but the intent can still show up by offering something as simple as a place to sit. Try setting up lifestyle activities that support your store’s brand, like providing related magazines. You can also set up a good view of your latest display. Locating this zone in the front of the store, near the entrance, gives customers a chance to get comfortable, whether it’s setting down their umbrellas in a nice stand (which will also keep water off your floors), or pulling out their phones to check their shopping list. This also keeps product a few steps away from the main door, which can act as a small safety buffer for shrinkage or theft. It also allows customers to feel calmer as they enter your store and have a more enjoyable shopping experience. 

When placing the decompression zone, consider how shoppers move through out the store. It’s common for people to turn to the right when they first enter a space, so having a small decompression area there is a great place to start. Emphasize this area as a retreat by adding softer materials like carpet on the floor and more human-sized lighting like table lamps. You can even pipe in soft music for just that area or have a signature scent like coffee beans or cedar. If your store is large enough, you can place more than one through out the space, but if you’re working with a small footprint, think about adding a simple bench to the side of the entrance.

Then, customers need to know how and where to pay. The cash/wrap or register used to be the center of any store. Many retail chains like Apple, have opted to use a mobile check-out model, so the cash wrap becomes integrated into the main shopping zone. Amazon stores here in New York City launched a convenience store that tracks what your put in your basket through an app, charging you when you exit. But most stores still have some kind of register, and we can emphasize it by where it’s placed in the space and how it’s designed. The goal with locating the register is to place it centrally so that it’s easy to see and  get to from any part of the store. You can determine how large it needs to be by the number and size of registers, plus how much space you’ll need for bags and wrapping. The pay area can be big or small depending on these factors, but we want it to be eye catching either way. Now, if your display area is the most eye catching element in the store, the check out area is in second place. 

Think about creating contrast- if your store is very colorful, the register area could be super sleek and white. If the store is minimal, wrap the register area in a special material like chrome or blackened steel. 

So you have the pay, play, and display zones, but the majority of the floor is dedicated to pure merchandise. You can further zone this area by product type, use, season, or however you see fit. 

Using these layout methods and the zoning technique will help you craft a store that’s comfortable, easy to navigate, and welcoming to a wide variety of shoppers. Plus it will make the store easy for you to keep organized, clean, and running smoothing. Use these systems as a frame work, and then you can put your focus on the juicy tasks of curating inventory, and filling out the store with fun extras and gorgeous displays. Now you have fewer excuses keeping you from opening the shop you’ve always dreamed about, and when you’re ready, this episode will be here to listen to again. In the meantime, I hope you are getting some much deserved R&R - and I will talk to you in the next episode.