For this assignment, I visited Sephora, H&M, Bath & Body Works, Target, World Market, and Five Below.

1. Lauren Schneider
Observation Lab
Module 5

2. Sephora
Upon first entering the store, I noticed that the doors were closed and
the employees were standing off to the side, and that it was busy.
Usually the customer service is great, however today I noticed that there
were employees chatting by the makeup stands and it took
approximately 5 minutes for an employee to approach me and ask if I
needed any help.
I noticed that the floors were white, however they seemed somewhat
dirty from the foot traffic. I also noticed that the store had relatively high
ceilings, something that I had not payed attention to before.
Another thing that I had not payed much attention to before this project
was how there were tons of creative displays for different products,
which are all shown at the top row of photos. These displayed drew me
into look at those products rather than the ones with no display. This is
a great opportunity for customers as it helps people locate best selling
items or even items that are trending right now.
The store was also getting ready for Christmas, and the first item that I
noticed was the "Holiday Lip Kit" at the front of the store. The front was
more crowded than usual in order to make way for the holiday gift sets.
Some of the products that I was searching for were hard to locate, and it
made me get distracted because I kept looking at other products on the
way, especially the "minis" section located right infront of the cash
register. This was a very smart tactic by the store because these items
are lower priced and are things that people can easily grab last minute.

3. H&M
The first thing that I noticed about this store was that
there were very nicely dresses mannequins, clearly
dressed for the holiday season.
Something that I had missed before was the bog TV's up
on posts throughout the store. I am assuming that these
are security TV's that record people wanking into the
store, however they were turned off so it seems that they
aren't working.
Something that I found surprising was how clean and put
together the front of the store was, however when walking
to the back of the store, it was extremely messy. I believe
that is because many people stick around in the front of
the store and it is where people establish first
impressions. The back may get neglected by employees.
I believe that H&M has been improving the quality of their
clothes recently, and they have been refining their stores
to match that. There is opportunity for growth here, as
they need to keep the entire store clean and organized,
not just the front.
Lastly, something that was not surprising was that there
were no emplpyees in the dressing room area. There were
still leftover clothing otems in my room, adn it was clear
that no one had been taking care of it for a while.

4. Bath & Body Works
This was the only store that I entered where I was greeted immediately.
The store fely very warm and cozy with all of the holiday decor, and the
employees were dressed up as well. I believe that this is a big part of the
Bath & Body culture as I have never gone unattended inside one of their
stores.
Bath & Body is also known for their sales. When walking up to the store, it
was no surprise that there was a "Buy 1 Candle, Get 1 Candle FREE" sign
out front, and inside too.
Part of what made this store feel so cozy was the "White Barn" section
that I had only thought was in a select few of their stores. The wood and
dark walls in that section made it feel very sophisticated and cozy.
To be honest, nothing completely surprised me when walking inside,
except for maybe how small the store was. It seemed that there was too
much product for that size of store. I have found that to be an issue with
many stores now as there is a bunch of holiday products in stock.
Bath & Body works is taking advantage of a huge opportunity: gifting.
Many of the products inside the store were already pre gift wrapped.
This store seems to be the default or go-to shop for gifts for moms,
grandmas, sisters, etc. They are taking advantage of that by having their
products wrapped and ready to go.

5. Target
The first thing that I noticed about the Tempe Target was
how it was very messy. On the floor there was what
seemed to be straws or sticks dumped on the floor, as
well as lots of marks.
The shoe section was not organized in the slightest, with
random shoes placed where they didn't belong. This
themecarried on throughout
Something else that this location specifically has been
struggling with for a while is lack of inventory. I noticed
that many of the items in the toiletry section were out of
stock. There was even a box of brownies placed where the
cleaning supplies were. I was surprised that they have
been struggling with this for almost the entirety of the
year.
Target does a great job with end caps, highlighting
trending and popular items for the specific season. Most
of the end caps had holiday products and had a "low
price" in big letters above.
I love going toTarget, however the overall feeling inside of
the store was cold. The recess lighting and the tile floors
created that type of feeling.

6. World Market
World Market is always a place that has surprised me with what they
offer. The first thing that I noticed was the holiday coffee station
positioned at the very center of the store facing the entrance. This was a
great way for them to showcase their holiday coffee and tea
accessories.
The overall feeling when entering the store was very warm. Especially
with the coffee at the very front and the dark floors/ wooden accents,
everything felt cozy.
Something else that I noticed was how different sections of holiday
ornaments and decor were organized with fun names, like "gilded grove"
and "happy hygge."
Something that surprised me when walking towards the back of the
store was a toy collectionof art supplies. This was not something that I
expected to be sold here, however they do have a whole marketplace of
specialty food products. In the front of the store, there is mainly home
decor and furniture with wine and cookware off to the side.
Most of the employees were older women, and they all wore a red apron
that said World Market.
Something else that surprised me was the amount of caddys and open
boxes of inventory laying around. This made it hard to get to certain
places of the store as the aisles are not very wide.

7. Five Below
When entering this store, I was very surprised at how messy
and unorganized it was. This was the most messy out of all the
stores that I visited. I had only been to this store once before,
so I did not knwo what to expect.
Immediately to the right when entering the store, there wasa
very messy bin of Halloween and Christmas decor labeled "$10."
I did not know if they sold anything above $5 here, however it
seems that they do.
Something else that I was surprised about is the amount of
clothing that they sold. It all seemed to be pretty good quality,
and was under $5! I believe that there is a great opportunity
here as they have cute clothing for a very affordable price.
When I have seen this store advertised, it almost never
references the clothing, so I believe that there is a great
opportunity if they market that better.
I noticed that almost every product or section was labeled with
a small sign with just the dollar amount that it cost, making
everything fairly easy to navigate and understand the pricing.
I was also very surprised that mpst of the checkout stations
were self-service. That seemed to be uncommon for a store of
this nature, however it seemed to be moving along very
efficiently from what I was able to observe.

8. Lauren Schneider
Thank You!
Module 5