The document provides observations from visits to several retail stores: - Target was clean with calm music but lacked greeters and hid some service offerings. - Five Below was crowded and cluttered with loud music, though self-checkout was effective. Employees avoided customers. - Michaels was empty on a Friday with a messy carpet and closed craft area. No promotions and few employees. - Ross was disorganized and overflowing with clothing. Only one cashier was open despite empty machines. - OfficeMax was almost empty with employees clustered together. It felt like a warehouse. - Kohl's dedicated space to Amazon returns. Aisles seemed empty despite options. Stores controls traffic with two door

1. TEM 431
Observation Lab
Rolando Camarillo

2. Target
• The store overall did draw me in because of the big red letterings that
differ from most competitors. I noticed they had separate doors for
coming in and going out and was surprised that no one greeted me as
usual. The store had light music playing which was enjoyable and the
overall tone of the store was calm. The tile flooring also made store
seem cleaner. The first products I noticed were flowers and summer
favorites as they were the first two things after coming through the
doors. I was surprised there was no greeter as there usually is one,
and most customers seemed to be browsing rather than on a mission.
It could be beneficial to make their service offerings more visible from
the moment consumers walk in the door as most service offerings,
such as optical were hidden and weren’t promoted in-store.

3. Target

4. Five Below
• Five below always seems overcrowded to me. One thing I did notice is
that their store is split up by categories listed on the wall. This is
beneficial for consumers looking for specific items, however I see Five
below as a browsing store and therefore I feel they only add to the
clutter. Their automated self-checkout machines make you walk
through an array of impulse purchases, and it was effective for most
consumers standing in line. Although there was a greeter/checkout
person I wasn’t contacted by any other employee. In a small store like
this I could see why but at the same time it felt as if employees
almost avoided consumers rather than helped them, which could be
improved upon. The music was also oddly loud in there, again adding
to the cluttered feeling.

5. Five Below

6. Michaels
• Michaels’ was extremely empty for a retailer on a Friday afternoon.
Their carpet as soon as you walked in was extremely messy and
deterred away from the promotional items and continued onto their
floors being scratched throughout the store. Something I noticed that
surprised me was that their craft center was completely closed and
looks like was made into an office. No promotional materials
whatsoever and most of the customer services areas had no
employees in sight, except one cashier. The music playing over the
speakerphone also seemed outdated and made me feel older. The
ceiling although high, made it seem barren and almost empty since
there were no promotional materials above anything except the
seasonal items.

7. Michaels

8. Ross Dress For Less
• Ross was a complete mess in my opinion. From the moment I walked
in there was no security, which there usually was. I also noticed they
integrated Amazon Lockers into the store which I hadn’t seen before
at Ross. The store was overwhelming full of clothing to where things
we’re overflowing. It looked as if employees couldn’t keep up. There
was also a line of consumers for only one cashier despite their being
multiple cashier machines available. One employee was friendly and
smiled at me, however I wasn’t approached once, but wasn’t
surprised by it. The store was full of hangars, clothing racks and items
that should maintain behind the scenes to better improve the overall
consumer experience.

9. Ross Dress For Less

10. OfficeMax
• OfficeMax was the complete opposite of Ross. It was almost barren
with all of the employees huddled up at the front of the store only
one customer using their services. The ominous empty seating made
the store look more empty and certain items sold in store also made
it seem like a warehouse such as packing peanuts. I suggest
implementing placeholders for big/bulky items to reduce eye sores
for consumers and improve the layout of the store. I’d describe the
feeling of the store as an empty office space, which is very ominous
rather than inviting, and the carpet doesn’t aid this. There was no
store security visible, and the store seemed cold and empty. There
wasn’t slightly faint elevator music in the background which only
increased boredom.

11. OfficeMax

12. Kohl’s
• Kohl’s surprised me with the corner they have dedicated to Amazon
and it’s returns. Most of the consumers present were families rather
than individual shoppers, but due to the sizing of the isles it still
seemed rather empty despite the abundance of clothing options. The
store was well lit and contained an ever more lit Sephora in the
middle of it. They have two sets of doors, however, only one open
which I assumed was to limit and control traffic both entering and
exiting. The cash registers were located at the front but again had
multiple without people on them. Kohl’s also surprisingly had impulse
purchases available at the checkout section such as candy plushies
used in their donations. Their tile floors did make the area seem
cleaner than if they were to use only carpet, like they do in their
clothing sections.

13. Kohl’s