In the last post, “It’s All About The Numb3rs”, we talked about how to increase traffic by improving the outside appearance of the store.  With that you have created a welcoming atmosphere on the outside and hopefully have set a theme that now needs to be carried throughout the inside of the store.

Take a look at the inside of your store, a really good look.  What is it that you see and feel?  It is what you wanted to present to your customers?  Is there continuity in the design?  Is there any design at all? These are all things that you need to consider when looking at the inside of your store.

Let’s take, for example, a Cajun restaurant.  Do the colors and decorations give the feel of New Orleans or something else that represents Cajun?  Maybe it’s Mardi Gras or voodoo dolls or just southern charm but the feel of the restaurant needs to be Cajun and have an atmosphere that represents that.

If you have an oriental store, the décor should represent the orient.  It would be just strange (although I have seen strange) to walk into a Cajun store that is decorated with oriental stuff wouldn’t it.

Ok, not all of us are decorators and believe me I understand that, but it is important.  So, maybe it’s time to ask your friends to help.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with that.  We all need to be aware of our limitations.  Ask several people (those that you know will be honest with you) to come to your store and ask them to give you their honest opinion and suggestions for how they think you could improve the feel.   If you are still uncertain, maybe it would be a good idea to hire a decorator to come in and give you some suggestions.

Hopefully this has given you some ideas that will help you create an atmosphere that your customers will absolutely love.  If you have any ideas about this subject, we’d love to hear them.