Lynda visited several local shops and gas stations she frequents regularly as part of a creative observation lab assignment. She paid closer attention to details than usual, such as employee uniforms, greetings at doors, lighting, floor cleanliness, shelf organization, colors used, artwork, product placement, and drink selection. Lynda concluded that observing with new intent allowed her to appreciate the efforts companies make to attract customers and she resolved to give businesses more of her attention going forward.

1. LYNDA’S BIG OBSERVATION ADVENTURE
This creative lab was to pick up on observations by visiting places that have or
have not been visited before and pay attention to details that maybe hadn’t been
before. Then take it a step further and report on what was observed. I must admit
I wasn’t really into this assignment, but signed on to do whatever the Creative Labs
asked me to do for this class. So, off I went to visit shops to see what I could see.
I started out with the Observation Lab Questions and my camera in hand. I stayed
with in a 15 mile area and visited places I was familar. The six places I chose are:
Wal-Mart
Signature Hair Studio
Walgreens Aldi’s Grocery
Blueberry Hill Pancake House Rickers Gas Station
These are all places I have been to many times. I am the kind of shopper that
figures out what is needed and gets in, gets what is needed and gets out. This time,
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2. I went in to see how these places made me feel. This idea is from the questions
from the lab.
Similarities I found were:
These places all wear some kind of uniform. They all were on the order of a polo
type shirt with the store logo and same color of pants. They all looked comfortable
and made the persons wearing them feel approachable.
All of the shops had someone greet me as I came in the door with a hello or
welcome. I don’t think they use to be like this a few years ago. I think this shows
signs of shops having to fight for your business these days.
All of the lighting in the stores seems to be bright and cheery, I don’t think I ever
noticed that before. I can remember a couple of places that were dark and dreary
and I just wanted to get out.
Aldi’s Signature’s Wal-Mart
All the places had clean floors and had been swept recently. The shelves were clean
but some were messy with items to sell, more about that later.
All the places I visited were inviting at the front door and the doors were closed. I
imagine mostly because I live in a place where the temperatures this week were
less than 50 degrees.
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3. Blueberry Hill Walgreen’s Signature’s
As far as colors go, I saw a lot of orange. Some of this is because of the Fall time of
year. But, some of the décor had nothing to do with Fall. When I looked closer at
the ones that were not in a Fall theme, I noticed the orange color was easy to read,
bright, crisp and clean looking.
Aldi’s Wal-Mart Wal-Mart
Observations I noticed were:
Wal-Mart has gotten so into selling things that the shelves have become
cluttered and messy. I hadn’t noticed this before.
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4. Some of the places had pieces of art installed, others need it.
Blueberry’s Blueberry’s Signature’s
I am rather on the short side and it seems like the items I like to shop for are
always on the top shelf or far back in a row.
Maybe the stores should have one of those ‘grabbers’ along with the carts when
you first come in. That way customers with my type of problem could pick up the
items they want without having to wait on someone taller willing to reach for them.
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5. One thing I never noticed before was at Ricker’s Gas Station, they have a whole
row of drinks along the back wall. Every nonalcoholic drink you can think of hot or
cold. I was so impressed I bought a French Vanilla Frappuccino that day. Thing is, I
am such a novice, I put it in a styrofoam cup, evidently, as told to me by the clerk,
these cups are reserved for hot drinks…I didn’t know I got an icy drink.
IN CONCLUSION:
I actually had fun with this experiment in observation. I go to these places quite
often and never see beyond what I went in after. These companies spend a lot of
money to get my attention; I should give them a little.
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