Do you see what I see?
Clutter has a way of sneaking up on us. Especially during the holidays. It becomes part of the landscape, and often we don’t see it until we consciously adopt a customer’s perspective and look around the bookstore.
Take 5 minutes today and do just that. Look around the store and see what your customers see:
- Are items misplaced about the store because what seemed like a good idea in Fiction was later rejected in History?
- Was that stack of books placed there because you were interrupted while shelving?
- Did that cardboard display work its way into a walking path? Is that why it’s looking a little tired?
- Are there too many cardboard displays placed around the store, making it look haphazard and unplanned?
This isn’t the first time you’ve decluttered, and it will not be the last. It’s not meant to be a “finally, everything is in its place” moment, because that will probably change within the hour. Instead, this should be treated as a periodic process. If the objective is to create a welcoming space, we need to stop every once in a while and ask ourselves, “Would I want to spend some time shopping here?”
