Buried in Plain Sight: The Layout Mistakes Hiding Your Slow Turns
Your retail floor is hiding cash.
Not in the register. On the shelves, in the fixtures, and in the aisle nobody walks down. You paid for inventory weeks (or months) ago. In this session, we're showing you why it hasn't paid you back.
Lyn Falk, co-founder of Retailworks, Inc. has spent 35+ years designing retail environments for Harley-Davidson, Aveda, thousands of independent retailers, and 70+ downtown districts through the National Main Street Center. Her clients don't talk about how their stores look. They talk about doubling income after a refresh.
In one hour, she'll show you how customers actually move through a store, where indie retailers lose sales without realizing it, and how to catch placement problems before they turn into markdowns. No renovation budget required.
You’ll leave knowing:
Whether a slow seller is a buying problem or a placement problem
Why the first ten feet of your store decides more than anything else in it
What to do when you've bought more than your fixtures can present well
The three environmental factors that actually change buying behavior
A 30-day store reset you can run with no capital budget
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Indie Insights Live - “Buried in Plain Sight: The Layout Mistakes Hiding Your Slow Turns”
Featuring: Dane Cohen (Management One) and Lyn Falk (Retailworks Inc.)
Host: Management One
Aired: September 24, 2026
Dane Cohen: Hello! I see people are filtering into the chat. We have Fiona there on video, on my account. How do we… how'd you get on my account, Fiona? I have no idea. There we go. Okay, well, we have some people filtering in right now, and welcome back to another episode of Indie Insights Live. We are so thrilled to be back. And this week, as always, we have a fantastic guest, and I will say, this topic has just exploded in our email inbox. You know, we got such a fantastic response to this, so we could not be more thrilled to have Lyn Falk with us today. Lyn is the founder and the president of RetailWorks, an award-winning commercial interior design, branding, and display firm, and they specialize in retail spaces. So, we are going to be talking all things store design, layout, you name it. We're gonna get into it with Lyn. As always, just a little bit of housekeeping. First off, we will be sending out this, episode. We always upload it onto our YouTube. We will send it out tomorrow, or even later today, right into your inbox, so that you can receive the recording. And we have an open chat, so we love when you participate in the chat. We just put in there, where are you joining from, let us know. We want you to participate, so that's the benefit of this being a live podcast format. See, we have Tracy from Iowa already saying hello. We want to get your interaction, we want to get your questions, so please. feel free to chime in, use the chat, use the Q&A button, and we will get into all of your questions. So, without further ado, Lyn, how you doing? Welcome to Indie Insights Live.
Lyn Falk: I'm doing great, Dane. Thank you for having me as a guest. Appreciate this.
Dane Cohen: Yes, we are… we are super excited, and again, like I said, this topic, has really struck a chord, and is really resonating. So I'm gonna, let's roll back. I always like to start from the beginning. You're the founder of RetailWorks. Tell us a little bit how the idea came about, how you started the business, and just a little bit about your background in the industry.
Lyn Falk: Sure, great, happy to do so. So, I grew up in retail. My grandfather came over from Poland and opened up a chocolate fudge shop in South Milwaukee, on Mitchell Street in South Milwaukee. Didn't speak a bit of English, but made enough money out of this one store to send four of his kids to school at University of Wisconsin-Madison. So, my dad and two of his brothers then went into the business, and the whole time I was growing up, my dad said. Don't ever grow up and go into retail. Because he was always working, you know, we didn't see him at Easter, we didn't see him at Christmas. But it… it's still… he did love it, the family loved it, but I did go into interior design. When I went to school at Madison, I graduated with an interior design degree, and my first job out of college was being the assistant to the display and design director for Yost's department stores. There were 6 of them in Madison, Wisconsin. And I was fascinated that whenever we moved something on the selling floor, or we painted a wall, or we did something cool in the windows, it affected consumer behavior. And I always had a strong interest in psychology, so I thought. wow, this is really interesting. I'm gonna go talk to the dean of retail at Madison, and tell them to teach their retail students to read a floor plan, and to educate these seniors that were going to be going to work for a lot of the major department stores, to really understand that if they change the floor around, and how certain things make people react a certain way. Well, he said, well, great, why don't you teach a class? So that led me to researching, creating a curriculum, and teaching at University of Wisconsin. Fast forward, I started consulting and speaking and writing on the topic of store design, and my dad said, well. you're gonna take money from a retailer, a small independent retailer, and you're gonna, you know, make them pay you to tell them how to rearrange their selling floor? And I said, well, yeah, that's kind of the idea. And he said, well, will you be able to affect their bottom line? he was always, you know, like, what's the return on the investment if you're gonna go and spout out about color? So I thought, oh, I better… I don't know, what is a bottom line? So I went back, took the… all the courses in an MBA program so I could read a profit-loss statement. And then my thesis was in consumer behavior and environmental psychology. Okay, that was a lot, but that really brought me to creating this… my business on this triangle of beautiful, fabulous design, which a lot of people can create nice spaces, but it has to affect consumer behavior to then, in turn, increase the bottom line. So I… I… my… I kind of pride myself on saying to a retailer. I'm not even going to take any of your money until you move into a better location, because that's the problem. It's not even your store design, or your lighting, or your signage, it's you're not in the right location. So let's look holistically at how we can create a better environment for you and your customers and your product lines. And over the last 35 years, I continued to research consumer behavior, environmental psychology, neuromarketing, and now neuro… Aesthetics, which is really the science of beauty, and bringing that into a retail space, and how it does affect how someone feels in that space, and how much they buy in the space. It's really.
Dane Cohen: Yeah, so… So, I think that's something that we can definitely jump into later, but I wanted to catch something that you said there, and this is, I think, really important, right? Is that the decisions that you're making, and I love that this is the mentality you're bringing to the table, is that the decisions that you're making are not just to make the store prettier, not just to, you know, have a cool display, they need to be impacting the bottom line. So, I kind of want to get a sense of, what are some of the… let's call it… what are some of the things that people overlook when they start thinking? Can we call it visual merchandising? I mean, I don't know if that's an outdated… Yes.
Lyn Falk: Well, I mean, it is still… it's still relevant. Yeah, it's merchandising your products in a way to get people to see them and buy them. So that's the short version, is visual merchandising. But, yes. I think what people forget is that less is more, and the brain can only process so much product in a space. And the old mentality of retail has been. If I don't have it on the selling floor, they're not going to think I sell it, or they're gonna miss something, so I've got to put it all out. Or I don't have enough room in storage, so I'm just putting all my inventory on the floor. And what happens is, the left brain shuts down. The left brain is our rational brain, and it's the one that interprets the store immediately. In the first 3 seconds, it says. Can I make… on a subconscious level, I mean, this is so quick, but it's like, can I make sense of this store? What do they even sell? How am I going to get to point A to point B to point C? Do I have to think about it? Is it going to require effort on my part? We never want that. We want it to be simple and engaging right from the get-go. So, what does that mean? That means creating… strategically placing creative focal points. So, when someone walks in, I don't want merchandise right up to the front door. I need, first of all, my transition zone of 8 feet. But then, is there something right there, maybe a nesting table, some pedestals, that's some seasonal display that engages my right brain, which is inspirational, it's emotional, it makes me happy, it informs me, it makes me smile. But then after I see that. Is there something that catches my eye that's maybe another 10 feet in, or 20 feet in, a little elevated? And then, is there something that catches my eye on the back wall? That… so, all of a sudden, I've now gotten to the back of the store without even thinking about it.
Dane Cohen: Okay, so let's start there, because I like this. You're walking in, the first thing you see. Can you give us a little recommendation there? Can we get some…
Lyn Falk: There are two things when you first walk in. You want to be able to get that feel for the space, so I want to be able to see the department signs, or I want to be able to know what all you sell. Like, I might be coming in to buy a child's something, but, oh, I see they sell men's, or I'm coming in to buy plateware. but I see they sell gifts. I'm coming in to buy a diamond, but I see they sell… whatever else you might want to say. But because, again, the subconscious is taking in the entire store, but you want to make sure that left brain understands what it's taking in. If it sees too much, it shuts down. It's like, I don't have time today, I'm too tired, I'm not gonna… I'll come back. So, okay, so the first thing is. Getting a lay of the land, and seeing department signs, and then that seasonal focal point right up front. Again, pedestals, displays, a nesting table, a mannequin, something that's right there that kind of gets you enthused and excited about what's the latest. What's the latest that you just brought in from the market?
Dane Cohen: Right, so right now, if you're walking into a store, maybe we're seeing some fall merchandise, obviously, you know, those, those, you know, distinctive fall colors. Maybe we're even seeing some Halloween sprinkled in. Could be. At this point.
Lyn Falk: Yes, yes, so definitely, I guess it's seasonal. If it is nesting tables, maybe we have… and don't just throw a tablecloth over. Be… be really intentional on how you're decorating something, and think about your price point and your target market with every decision you make. You always want to think, is this on brand? Is this going to make my target market pleased with me. I mean, our target market, we always have to have them in the back of my mind. Are they going to be happy with what I just did? Are they going to think it looks cool? So, a runner, running a runner over a nesting table is nicer than just throwing a tablecloth over. So, it's these intentional props that you want to put with these focal point displays that get people to stop, and take a moment and go, oh, isn't that pretty? And when you can get someone to stop and get engaged with a display, you're going to increase sales over 50% for that particular product line.
Dane Cohen: So you want the… so the key here, especially with the front display, is let's get them to stop in their tracks, right? We want them to assess the store, see what's going on, but we want them to stop right there at the front table, whether it's to touch, to… to feel, to…
Lyn Falk: something, yeah, pick something up, smell it, snip it, try it on, taste it, whatever it is. And you can't do it too close to the entrance. If you do it too close to the entrance, people will walk right by it. So, if your space is large enough, then I'd say, you know, it's got to be 10, 12 feet in. If you have a really small store, then 8 feet, but I don't want something at 4 feet. People will walk right by it. It's too close. We have to have that transition zone when someone walks in.
Dane Cohen: Okay, and earlier you were saying, and I think that this is… this is a heavily debated topic, okay? Because I come from family… a family retail business, too, and the mentality, you know, that kind of old-school retail mentality was, stack them high and let them fly, right?
Lyn Falk: Yep.
Dane Cohen: Get it out, let's get it in front. But you were kind of saying that maybe not everything has to be out. Is that in terms of the quantity of product, or is it, you know, holding back some new arrivals? I just want to, you know, refine that a little.
Lyn Falk: Yes, thank you, that is really a… that's so important to get this right. So, you can mass… merchandise, like, I call it critical mass, a product on a shelving unit, on a section of wall, that's fine, because we want people to see that you're deep into that particular product. So, I mean, if you're into candles, don't just put 6 candles out, you know, put 26 out. However. If you start putting too many out, you're now… you've gone over this point of no return, where you're starting to lose people. There is a critical mass of how many products you should be putting in a section, depending on the size of your store. There was a very famous not a… well, it's kind of a survey, I guess, a test for, how many people could buy peanut butter based on how many were on a shelf. And I believe this might have been a Walmart study.
Dane Cohen: This is a very famous study.
Lyn Falk: Yes, yes! And when they reduced it from, like, 16 to 6, you know, sales went up significantly. So, really, you have to think about your store display area, and you say. Am I overloading? Do I have too much that the brain is shutting down? It's like, too many options. Too many… I can't think. Less is more, quality over quantity. In many cases. Again, think about how the brain processes the store. So, yes, critical mass is important, but if it's too much and too many options. people don't buy as much. And back to your point of fill every vacant piece of space in a store, you know, there shouldn't be any negative space anywhere. That is not good for sales. We often call it the subtraction method. We don't have retail invest any money in anything. All we do is go in and take 25 to 30% of products off the floor. Now, they usually freak initially, but once we re-merchandise. they now see how much sales will go up. I often say it's a 25-25, like, you take 25% off, your sales can go up 25%. Take 30% off, your sales will go up 30%. It's remarkable.
Dane Cohen: That's very interesting. And, you know, I'm a firm believer of, you know, you don't hold new product in the back, right? But we're not talking about new product, we're talking about the density of product here.
Lyn Falk: Correct, correct.
Dane Cohen: Gotcha.
Lyn Falk: Proximity and density, yeah.
Dane Cohen: Yeah, and I think this is really interesting with the candle example. You know, something that I also really like when I walk into a store is you don't have to put all the candles together. You could have one brand in one section, another brand in another section, so you're making statements throughout the store. I mean, the customer could think beyond all candles right there.
Lyn Falk: Right, right. Yes, so you either departmentalize by the candle, or you take the vendor, and do a vendor here, and then you do a vendor there, or you're gonna do all blue candles with other blue items here, and then you take another line of candles that work with maybe some linens, and you create another display over there. It has to be thoughtful and intentional, and you really have to step back from just stocking shelves. You… when you are an intentional merchandiser, and you really understand how to put products together and how to display them, your sales will increase versus just being a job stocker, just putting products on shelves.
Dane Cohen: Okay, well, I have so many questions, I'm, I'm even… I wish we had pictures! Next time we have to have pictures! Next time we'll do visuals, we'll do video walkthroughs. But, okay, I want to get your thoughts on mannequins, okay? And, you know, we have some, obviously a lot of apparel stores on, but we also have probably some home, gift. pet stores on here, so I want to get your thoughts on mannequins, but I also want to get your thoughts on what are some, like, tried and true… you said you want people to stop in their tracks. What are some tried and true methods that you find really get people… is it a floral display? Is it a, you know, mannequin on a table? What are kind of some of those.
Lyn Falk: Well, absolutely those, Dane, you're right, but I always want to push the envelope a little bit. I say today, retailers need to stand on their head. So. How… how is just putting maybe a mannequin on a little pedestal? That's fine. But could we… we also like to group things in odd numbers, so could we put 3 together on multiple height pedestals? Could we hang something from the ceiling above those mannequins to really grab attention? Could we… could we put a… bring in a piano and have a mannequin lying down on top of the piano? I mean, I'm talking about… let's have fun with these focal point displays. They get people talking, they get them engaged, they want to know what you're going to do next season, or next month. They start telling others about it, they say, wait till you go in and see that back power wall that they have. They redid… they redo it every month, and it is so fun. I mean, how are people talking about your store? I mean, it's one thing to say, yeah, you have good product lines, which is Number one, of course, you have to have that. But how are you presenting it? How are you creating, literally, something that someone wants to take a picture of and share on social, or tell someone else about? So, out of the box, humorous, upside down, what's the twist, but always create that negative space around it so it stands out. So, up on a pedestal, hang something above it, illuminate it. I always say illuminate your focal points 3 times brighter than the surrounding ambient… ambient light in your store. That, again, feet follow the eyes. The feet are gonna go, oh my god, what's over there? Oh, that looks great. I've got to walk over there.
Dane Cohen: And then you said something about that, which I love, you know, picture-worthy moments, and I think we saw such a proliferation of, you know, these kind of, you know, manufactured social media moments, right? You know, where are we at in the state of those? You know, you'll see decals on a wall, or hashtags, or where are we at with those pockets of social media moments?
Lyn Falk: you know, they're still there, but I think they… they have to be even better these days. If you're going to have one, I don't feel bad about… don't be lame about it. You know, it's like, you're either in or you're.
Dane Cohen: Say that.
Lyn Falk: Yeah. don't… so many times, people are kind of like, well, I've just done it this way for so long. Like, oh my god, okay, get over that now. Let's close the book on that. How can we do this completely different? Again, stand on your head. You're in entertainment. Retail is entertainment, retail is social. What are we doing that's different? And I want to go back, I didn't really answer your question about mannequins, because.
Dane Cohen: Oh, yes.
Lyn Falk: You have to be very careful with mannequins. Some mannequins are very creepy looking, and so.
Dane Cohen: Very true.
Lyn Falk: They are. I was… I just came out of a store, and they have this little girl mannequin, and my colleague who was with me, she said, well, you know, that comes alive at night and walks the store. It's like, oh, so if you don't… find the right mannequins. Don't buy them cheap that have been old in an old department store. Let's find some really nice mannequins that work with your brand, and dressmaker forms are even better than mannequins. Dressmaker forms, you can dress them in… fabulous! I wish I had my photos with me, but, like, an evergreen… an evergreen skirt, but a burlap top. And that can be in a plant store, a pet store. Bringing in something like that can be not in an apparel store, you could put it in a cafe. You can do fun things with dressmaker forms, and elevate them. So, sorry, I, you know, I talk 100 miles an hour, but Dane, there's so much to talk about in this.
Dane Cohen: And there's such good information here, and you know, I will say, right, we talk about a lot of topics here, and I do want to loop this back around to data, right? Yes.
Lyn Falk: Yes, yes.
Dane Cohen: This is one of the really fun parts about retail, and, you know, my… again, we're going back to that family business, and one thing that I remember my dad and my uncle always used to say is, the best part about running a retail business is you open the doors each and every day. You know, meaning you get to change the course of your business every day.
Lyn Falk: You have a chance every day!
Dane Cohen: Yes, to recapture. So, actually, on that topic, right, you talked about that power wall in the back that you're changing out once a month. How often, you know, should we actually be making swaps and changes? You know, I used to look at it as, you know, you have your floor sets, which may be, like, a seasonal floor set, and then you're moving around within a season, but how much should we be moving and shaking? Is there almost Too much.
Lyn Falk: Well, that's… That's a hard question to answer because there's no general rule of thumb. It is so dependent upon the type of retail, the type of product, the type of target market. Do you have regular patrons coming in, like a drugstore, a pharmacy, every day, or do you have… are you in a tourist community where you have different people coming in, and it's not a lot of regular traffic? And the size of the space, the size of your staff, the size of your budget. You know, how much… what's really important to change, and how often. I do say that regardless of who you are and what you're selling, to create a budget, a calendar, and someone who is assigned To definitely the focal point displays, the window display, someone who's assigned to signage, so that if you have money, a calendar, and someone appointed to it, that topic or task will get done. So, when it comes to displays, you know, I show 100 slides of… or photos of all these fabulous displays, and people are like, oh, I love them, but who's gonna do that? How do I do… how do I get that done? Okay, you find the person, or two people, you get that $50 a month you set aside, $200 a month you set aside, whatever your budget can deal with, and then you get the calendar out, and you say. We're resetting our store 4 times a year. We're redoing our window displays once a month. We're redoing our focal point displays every 6 weeks. This person's assigned for it, this is how much money we have, this is when it goes up, this is when it comes down. you really have to look at it as part of operations. Otherwise, honestly, it's a secondary thought that you only do when you have time.
Dane Cohen: Yeah, and I also think, right, that this is where you can get driven by KPIs and metrics. And, you know, a lot of times, you know, it's very easy, and I think I even am guilty of this sometimes, right? You see maybe slow sell-throughs in certain product categories, or… You know, you see certain vendors that aren't performing that well, and a lot of times, it's very easy, especially from our perspective, to start flagging things for a markdown, right? You know, okay, you know, we may need to start thinking about this, but really, right, and of course there's always going to be budget involved, but you have a free option, which is… Let's start thinking about how to move this product on the floor before we just, you know, throw our hands up.
Lyn Falk: Oh, you know what? Part of that calendar needs to be checking that inventory report on a regular basis, because that is possibly going to dictate what you do that month, or that quarter, to help move certain product lines out. Or you see something that's really selling well, it's like, okay, do we need to reorder? Do we need to do even more displays? Or… I mean, how do we need to work the floor based on that report? And a lot of people don't put two and two together, that that's really how… they work hand-in-hand. That's how you get product to move out. How are we merchandising it? Where are we placing it? Does it need to be in a focal point? Does it need to be in the window? Does it need to be discounted in the back of the store? I mean. All of that needs to work together. It is very holistic how we look at merchandising. It touches a lot of the business.
Dane Cohen: Yeah, here's a good one that you just, that just, you just popped into my, head. sale sections, right? Yes. One of the biggest things we hear from our customers is, I don't want to look like a clearance store, I don't want to look like I'm on sale all the time, but as we know, it's just a part of business, it's a part of retail. How do you, you know, incorporate that into a store layout?
Lyn Falk: Yeah, every store has that question, every retailer has that question. And there are… there are various answers depending on the… what I call, kind of, the curriculum specul… the… What's that word when it's on your one end or the other?
Dane Cohen: from the spectrum.
Lyn Falk: Welcome, thank you. Because… There are some stores that we always want to have a clearance section that's there 24-7, 365 days a year. It is where that target market expects to have certain clearance items. It's part of that business. There are other stores on the other end of the spectrum that never should discount anything, and when it's time to get rid of it, either goes into storage and maybe comes back out the next year. Maybe, or it gets donated. And then there's everything in between. So, we have to be careful. I do a lot of work in the shoe industry, and if there's some shoe retailers on, you understand that they either have a shoe sale room, a permanent room that people literally go into, because they have so much inventory that they are just moving all the time, and or they have racks, sale racks, that come out and literally take up part of the selling floor. That is part of that industry's way of moving their product line out. Is it… Perfect? No. I mean, I still think there's some room for improvement there. But again. it's kind of on that spectrum of what that brand is, and how much inventory you need to move, and how you move it, and what your target market's expectation. You can't just right now, pull the rug out from the shoe industry, because so many customers of the sit and fit shoe model? they… that's when they go and shop. They might go look and see what's new, but they want to go and see what's moving out.
Dane Cohen: Yeah, listen, I have fun shopping sales.
Lyn Falk: Everyone wants to save a buck. Yeah, wherever you are.
Dane Cohen: And I think there's two different customers, and there's two different mentalities. On Monday, I could be a sales shopper, and on Saturday, I'm a full-price shopper. It's just, you know…
Lyn Falk: It's true! It's so true.
Dane Cohen: It's the way it works. Okay, we got some questions from the, audience. Hey, I even see some, Canada here. Shout out to our good friends in Canada. Okay, we have Gina that asks, hi Gina, do you offer a planogram that can be used for spring, summer, then fall, winter? Gina's using AI right now, but it would be great to have a pro perspective.
Lyn Falk: Interesting.
Dane Cohen: Well, I guess, you know, here's a good door into this. What about AI right now? I have seen a lot of retailers that are, you know, putting in a picture of their store, could you help me merchandise? How do you feel about that at the moment?
Lyn Falk: We don't mind AI at all. I mean, we have found it to be a very helpful tool for our clients, as well as for us. And so, going back to, kind of, how many SKUs do you need to have on that wall or on that fixture for that season? That's how we create our planograms. So we will go back, kind of, to the inventory, how you're buying, what you need to put out, what your fixtures will hold. And that's the other thing. We say, we might look at a fixture and say, that's going to hold 16 SKUs. We'll have a client who'll come and say, no, no, no, I'm going to cram 24 on that. We'll say, no, we will maybe meet you in 20, but you're not going to put 24 SKUs on, because now you are detracting from the ability to sell that product. You are cramming too many in. So back to the planogram, if you can put AI in, and you say, you know, this is… even take a picture of your wall, and you say, this is how many hanging pieces or folded pieces, you know, show me what would fit in there. go for it. But it goes back to your inventory. You know, what… how many SKUs do you need to put out, and then what's gonna look good? And what do your fixtures house? So, it's always that 2 and 2 and 2 equals 6 kind of thing.
Dane Cohen: Mmm,
Lyn Falk: It's a bit of a science. It's science and art and math, all in merchandising.
Dane Cohen: Right.
Lyn Falk: I answered that exactly, but…
Dane Cohen: No, I love it. Okay, and then we have… okay, we have fabulous candles, but they move slowly. How do you adjust for scenting?
Lyn Falk: for scenting? Yeah. Like, scents, aromas?
Dane Cohen: Yeah, well, you know what, let's use that. I'm not… Gina, you'll have to let us know exactly what you mean by that, but I'm assuming, you know, something in the vicinity of people coming up and smelling the candles, or…
Lyn Falk: Okay.
Dane Cohen: what… what's…
Lyn Falk: Well… One, if someone says to me, this line isn't selling, the first thing I look at is, is there competition in town? You know, who else might be selling this, or selling something different or better? Second, I'd say, where is it located in the store? Third, how long have you had it on the selling floor? And is it even something you should still be carrying? And then I would start getting a sales tactic around those candles, so I'd position them in a place where a salesperson could be talking about them. I'd make an interesting sign about them, and an interesting display to get people to want to engage and smell and… and put it in a setting, so they go, oh, I could see this in my house. There are ways to… a lot of ways to look at a product line that's not selling well. So, we almost have, like, a list of filters that we would go through and make you question yourself all the way down, like I just mentioned.
Dane Cohen: What about actually lighting a candle and having that be kind of the signature scent of the store?
Lyn Falk: Absolutely. By law, you have to have it into a hurricane, cover, you know, so it's glass, but you technically, if a fire marshal came in, you just can't have an open flame. But yes, a lot of people will do that at their checkout counters, and that certainly can be the scent at the store. It just has to be somewhere near where employee's always going to be stationed, and then in a hurricane. But that, that is fine.
Dane Cohen: Yeah, I'll tell you something really interesting. One of the best tips I got about, you know, in-store experience and customer experience was… I'm not sure if you're familiar, but there was a spin cycle, SoulCycle, right? It's a very popular Oh, yeah, yeah. In spin studios, and they had this signature grapefruit candle. And every class, they would light one in there, you walked in, and the whole place smelled of that grapefruit candle. And actually, in my retail store, the founder of SoulCycle was a customer. And… we started selling that grapefruit candle. I said, I love it, how did this come about? And she said, well, we started opening multiple locations, and what we noticed is that people were traveling, you know, when they would travel for work, they would come and find us. And when they walked into that studio, I wanted them to know that they were in a SoulCycle, and immediately have that connection. So there's so much that goes into, and I know that you're very big on the senses.
Lyn Falk: Yes, yes, absolutely. So, aroma is huge, of course, and signature brand aromas are, Like, there was… okay, Dr. Alan Hirsch, who was the director of the Smell and Taste Research Institute years ago in Chicago, he was the first one to really initiate and kick off signature aromas for hotel chains, department stores, and casinos. So he would blend a lot of natural essential oils into something that would go into an HVAC system. And it has… where the people could actually smell it, because you can manipulate behavior with putting an aroma in where people aren't aware of it, so you have to have enough molecules in the air for someone to say, oh yeah, I did smell something. He went in front of Congress, even, because otherwise it's subliminal advertising. Excuse me. Because you can manipulate behavior. So, he would charge $25,000 to these large corporate environments to create those signature scents. But what the beauty is, he really has some great studies that will say. men linger longer in jewelry stores where vanilla is in the air. So now, every jewelry store, it seems, in America has a vanilla scent, and I always say. be careful, because now you have to differentiate yourself from everyone else who has the vanilla scent. And I always say, use essential oils, don't use plug-ins, don't use the artificial chemical diffusers, because people will get headaches, they can get migraines, they can have allergies, but aromas make a difference. People will linger longer, they will feel like time passes. quickly, like, if you said to someone, how long were you in that store? And if they were smelling a really good aroma, they might say, oh, I was in there for 10 minutes, and they were really there 20 minutes. So… But you have to have the right aroma at the right level. that's your brand, and yeah, I could talk a lot about… we should just do something on the senses.
Dane Cohen: We'll do a scent, ascent, class.
Lyn Falk: There's a whole other conversation on music, too, and sounds, so…
Dane Cohen: Oh, yeah, well, we'll get to music. I do love that. Super important. Okay, Matt asks, what about consultative sales environments with commissioned salespeople helping customers on a one-to-one basis? So I'm not sure exactly the question he's asking, but I think we're talking about specialist environments, right? Where you have someone that is, you know, I'll give you an example, right? An outdoor store, right? That's maybe selling fishing, supplies, or kayaks, or, people have commissioned roles, and salespeople. How do we get Those, selling spaces activated.
Lyn Falk: Right, so I often hear from a client, they'll say, well. we have someone who greets every customer, and is working with every customer, and tells all the customers what we do, and they walk them through the store, and I say, okay, there's no way that you have a salesperson for every single customer during a holiday season, or a busy day. Or, what if a customer comes in with two friends, or a spouse, or a partner? What is that person doing? So, I always say. The store has to sell itself. The store has to be able to sell to whoever's with that person, or when they're waiting for that specialist, the consultant, the person on commission. So, how do you do that? You do that through interactive, well-informed displays. And that's where signage, and if we can just talk about signage for a minute. Sign pollution runs rampant in retail, and in most commercial environments these days, to the point where no one ever reads anything. I mean, it's unbelievable how I see people, they print something out and they slap it up with scotch tape. Or, you know, things are crooked, or they're mismatched. put together for the client, or we tell the client to do this, sign design guidelines. You identify every department of sign, and I'm getting back to this consultant, who was talking about, you know, being on commission. Because you have category signs, you have department signs, you have product information signs, you have promotional signs, you have sales signs. Directional signs, policy signs. Well, every sign that you put up, first you say, what category does it go into? Okay, it goes into this category of signage, so that means it has to be in a sign holder like this, it has to be this size, it's printed in this font, on this color paper, and this is how it's installed in the store. What you're doing by that is you're training your regular customers, as well as even new customers that are coming in. It's so easy, they go, oh, there's a department? Oh, here's a category, oh, here's some information about the product. They're not looking at sloppy signage, they're looking at a system. That's encouraging their eyes. Literally, their eyes are attracted to that display to learn about those products, and maybe to get pricing on the product, whatever it is. So now the store. the displays are selling to me while I'm waiting to be waited on. I hope I answered the question, but that's… we find this a lot. Change the sign system. And you'll sell more without having someone with them every day.
Dane Cohen: Love that. Signage pollution. Let's fight the battle of signage pollution. Here's one more I would say about consultative selling. I could only really speak for apparel stores. I'm sure we could translate this into other kind of more technical businesses, and that is your fitting room space is super important, right? And one of the things that drives me crazy as a retailer, right, when I'm shopping, is someone is helping me on the floor, and then we get to the fitting room, and they disappear. There's no area for them to talk to me, or… that's where the consultative selling is happening.
Lyn Falk: Oh my gosh! And why can't we have something as simple as, honestly, literally something that someone could throw over the top of a door, or the curtain, or a flip a switch and a light goes on when you need someone to help you? Otherwise, you're stuck in there. And can I tell you, Dane, how many horrible dressing rooms I've been in? How… how is this even possible in today's retail? This is where you're putting something on, and looking at yourself, and this product. The lighting has to be spectacular. You know, now these mirrors that have actually that self-illumination, they are the most flattering mirrors ever. they can't… this dressing room can't smell, it can't be too small, has to have a place for me to put my purse where I don't feel like it's gonna be somewhere gross on a floor. And then right after that, Dane, is a restroom. If you have a restroom that's open and available to the public, it has to be spectacular. I mean, lovely. Fabulous accent wall color, or wallpaper, a fun quote, some cool lighting. So people come out and go, wow, well, that was really cool. If you pay attention to your dressing rooms and your corridor to your restroom even, a corridor could be spectacular. You turn around the corner, you know, you've heard this surprise and delight? theater, retail's theater. Let's turn the corner and go, oh my god, that's so cool, look what they did.
Dane Cohen: Yeah, I love that. Okay, well, the questions are rolling in, so let's, let's pick… someone asked, do you have a brand of mannequins you prefer?
Lyn Falk: Well, I do, but a lot of them that are really, really nice, if you're going brand new, are super expensive. And that's one of the reasons why I go to dressmaker forms, because they're very inexpensive. And you can make a lot of interesting outfits on… on dressmaker forms. Now, if you're in… you're selling yoga apparel, or, you know, like a Lululemon, you're gonna wanna probably have some of those fancier mannequins that are bendable or imposed places, but that's… they're $1,000 to $2,000. So, you know, if you wanted to email me afterwards and say, you know, this is what I sell, this is what I'm looking for, I can give you the names of some sources.
Dane Cohen: Yeah.
Lyn Falk: mannequins.
Dane Cohen: And Lyn, is it okay to put your email in the chat function here? Yes. Okay, Nico, we'll get that in there by the end of the episode, so everyone can get in contact. Okay, we're gonna roll through these. We are a renovation company for bathrooms and kitchens, but we also have a retail showroom. Sure. Any suggestions?
Lyn Falk: Oh, yes, create those vignettes, and you're probably already doing this, but it's really important to change out those vignettes. Now, you may not be reconstructing an entire vignette every 6 months, but within those vignettes, and you're probably already doing this, but bring in some really cool props. You're creating an inspiration for these people to say, I want that in my house. So, a lot of those little add-on accent pieces, whether it's towels, or vases, or bowls of fruit, or wine, or soaps, or whatever you can bring in to create that environment, that vignette. People want to come in and see what they can do, and what could they do in their house. And a lot of people, not everyone is creative. They are very visual. They have to see it to be able to tell you. Also, samples. If you have samples of different countertops, samples of colors of things, and lighting. It has to be fabulous lighting in your vignettes. It cannot be… I call it stupid lighting. Stupid LEDs that are just this 5,000 daylight. Oh my god, the whole fact that people look at something and say, oh, daylight, I must have that. That is, like, the worst thing unless you're selling diamonds. 5,000 Kelvin is not good. So back to these vignettes. If they're in their home, you want to have, like, a 3,000 Kelvin, 2700 to 3500 Kelvin for your lights, and have beautiful lights, have… Lovely pendant lights. So you're creating a space that's just really inspirational for your clientele.
Dane Cohen: Yeah, by the way, warm lighting, that is so important. When I… when we did some, restruct… construction on the house, 2700 was mandatory, so…
Lyn Falk: Oh, yes. And all the builders… Dane, all the builders these days are putting 5,000 in, because they're… and they're integrated, so you can't even change the light bulb out.
Dane Cohen: When the kids…
Lyn Falk: And they're, like, they look like you could do surgery in them.
Dane Cohen: One quick tip, of course, I want your feedback on for a, you know, the bathroom and kitchen showroom is, one, you can use products in your inventory to use it as merchandising, and then you could actually take some of those out of your inventory and use them as a marketing cost. So if you're going to be using a piece of furniture, and that's gonna be part of the display. You could actually take that out of the inventory, so it's actually a marketing cost, so you're not being taxed on that inventory, or… And then also, I was just thinking, like, I love that when you said, turn things on their head a little bit. I love when I see cookbooks, right? And I've purchased cookbooks from home stores, right? When you're… when you're in a showroom and there's, like, a cookbook there, or pick a wine of the month and put it on the counter, and that's, like, an interesting… make it interesting, make it fun, make it…
Lyn Falk: Exactly. I mean, how do you want to buy something? You know, you think… put yourself into your own customer's shoes. And it's funny, because some retailers are great at that. I mean, it's just like, that's… they know how to do all that, and they do it all day long, and they do it really well. But there are a lot of other retailers that I think, get so lost in, like, they can't see the forest for the trees, maybe they don't even get out or travel a lot to be able to see what's out there and what's different, or they just don't have the knack. You know, so they really need to hire someone that can come in and bring that creativity and that selling aspect to the selling floor.
Dane Cohen: Okay, great, yes. And then, alright, let's keep rolling through. Where should your top-selling brands be located in an apparel store? We have a small boutique, about 2,000 square feet, not so small. Should you draw people to an area of the store using that brand, or should it be front and center? This is a really good question. Do you use hot items and hot brands as anchors to other parts of the store, or do you put them right up front? That's a great question.
Lyn Falk: It is a great question. Generally, we would say that that's a destination brand, so if people are coming to you specifically for that brand, they're going to want… we're going to want to put it towards the back, or next to some area that we want them to come into the store to see. So even if you have, like, a dead area of the store, we want to put that destination near that to get people back into that store. The only time we would put it up front, might be for something temporary. So if you're doing a temporary promotion, or maybe there's a trunk show going on with that particular brand, then you want to put it in the window, you want to put it up front, but otherwise, we're trying to get people back to it. You always have to say, is this a destination? Are people getting in their car and driving to see me because they want to get that at my store?
Dane Cohen: Yeah, and then I would assume anything new, if you have a new banner brand that's coming, you put that right up.
Lyn Falk: Bring it up front.
Dane Cohen: Okay. Alright, well, a lot of feedback on the smells, right? Elizabeth says that's a… that's a very big business, aromas that are filtered in. Sherry, says, we do a Smell-O-Rama, baking cookies in the oven and eucalyptus in the showers.
Lyn Falk: Very good, yes.
Dane Cohen: Right, that's the old real estate trick, right? If you're… when you're selling a home, you put… bake the, cookies in the…
Lyn Falk: A lot of Ace Hardware stores, have popcorn. They have their little popcorn machine, so you go into an Ace, and you'll find that.
Dane Cohen: Yeah, love it. Okay, Dana said… oh, right, the… yes, the… the smell of popcorn, there we go. Dana says, an unclean bathroom will make me leave a store.
Lyn Falk: Yep, amen. And same way with dressing rooms, really. Who wants to be undressing and, like, say, put your clothes that you're wearing and a purse on a dirty floor or a dirty bench? bleh.
Dane Cohen: Okay, what is your opinion? You alluded to this before. Amelia asks, what's your opinion on music playing in a store? We're a women's boutique, very girly and fun.
Lyn Falk: Okay, so music genre is super important to select according to your brand and what your target market expects of you. Now, you can change that up if you're having a special event, or let's say, one of my colleagues, she had a store for 20 years, and the… she was in Milwaukee for 10 of those years, and when Harley-Davidson would have their annual anniversary, she would play the rock and roll for, you know, Harley riders. So, every once in a while, let's change it up to be something fun, but you want it at the genre that you're target market's going to want to be. Now, if you have an international import store, you might want to bring in some really international fun, especially at the holidays, like the, you know, Irish Celtic is fabulous music, something that's different than the traditional, let's say, holiday. So, think a little out of the box, but always keep it associated with your brand and what your target market wants. And then think about your employees, too. Try not to do these loops. Where, you know, you're hearing the same things over and over, and especially in places like jewelry stores, where, they're in there sometimes for 2 hours, you know, you don't want them hearing looped music either. And if you have a store that's… well, really almost every store these days needs to be… belong to ASCAP, because they do have music licensing laws, so you can't technically be playing Spotify, Pandora, even CDs you can't play. The only thing you could do without belonging to ASCAP, and that's a monthly fee, would be, radio. But who wants to be playing the radio? Because then you're gonna get, commercials.
Dane Cohen: But I do think that this is somewhere to invest in, right? Because this… and these are the subliminal things, and what I always say, and I'm very sensitive to this, that a vibe… like, I know this word may be… may seem, you know, loosey-goosey, but vibes are important. And whether you are a, you know, professional man going to a suit store, whether you're walking… a mom walking into a children's store, whether you're a chef walking into a kitchen store, you have a certain aesthetic, right? You carry a certain way that you think about yourself, and when you walk into a store and do that first assessment, right, the smell, the visual, the music, you are subliminally saying, does this store align with my vibe? So, if I walk into what I think is gonna be a cool, trendy men's store, and they're playing elevator music. Not the vibe.
Lyn Falk: Exactly, not your brand, and not the target market. So, right, they need to know who they're selling to and what is that ambiance you're trying to create. Three to five seconds when someone walks into that store, all of their senses are being illuminated on some level. The brain is a black box. It is… there's nothing to the brain. It is… it is lazy. There's nothing there. Only comes alive when our senses are stimulated. So in the first three seconds, like, what are you hearing? What are you smelling? What are you seeing? That's what's going to create that desire to continue to shop.
Dane Cohen: And, you know, okay.
Lyn Falk: We don't want… we don't want our store to be so quiet. that everyone's gonna hear what you're saying to a customer. You know, we want that some background music. You know, white noise was made for a reason, but in this retail store, again, we want really create a great environment. To that… to your word, the vibe. Absolutely.
Dane Cohen: I'll give you a funny story. You know, around Christmas time, there's one store in my town that I go in and purchase gifts for my mother-in-law. And when I walk in there, it smells like my mother-in-law, it looks like my, you know, all the displays, and I say, this is where I'm buying something for her, it's perfect, right? So, vibes could work in many different ways. Okay,
Lyn Falk: And you should take, yeah.
Dane Cohen: Yeah, okay, we have some people requesting your email, so we're putting that in the chat. Someone says, I want to know how Lyn is being so efficient on the road with such great audio.
Lyn Falk: I'm just… My colleague driving, and we just get hit, like, one of the bumpiest.
Dane Cohen: I, I see.
Lyn Falk: This week, so I'm double booking.
Dane Cohen: That's okay. Well, Lyn, your audio is cutting a little out at the moment, so we may have jinxed it, but, we hear… Sherry says we are currently using a smooth jazz for calmness or instrumental. Would you suggest anything else? I would say this, Sherry, you don't want to put people to sleep. Right? And so, you want to create calmness, and you want to create, but, you know, you may want to mix it up a little bit, and put some, you know, share… Lyn, I'll get your take here.
Lyn Falk: Yeah, I think it… it really depends on what the vibe is. So, there are some, like, wine shops, that playing classical music is actually very appropriate, or jazz. So, that's… that does put people… and… and the tempo? It's very important, too. If you're trying to slow people down, help them make an expensive decision. Sometimes you need that quieter music. And if they're spending $85 to $150 on a bottle of wine, oftentimes they probably do like classical or jazz. So, again, it's not even what's right or wrong across the board, it's what's right For your store, your brand, your theme, your vibe, and your target market. And your price point. And your product line. I mean, every decision you make for anything that has to do with design or display has to go through those brand filters. So you're making the right decision that always comes back to sell more product, and to sell.
Dane Cohen: Yeah. And Sherry said, you know, we do have an older clientele, they're spending a lot of money, so yeah, Lyn, I think you're right on target with, you want to slow them down, so it seems like with that jazz and classical that you're right on target. Elizabeth asked music for kids and adult clothing. I would say make it fun, make it pop, make it relevant, make it now. You know, that's probably a good rule of thumb. Signage examples for that 2,000 square foot, ladies' boutique. It is a rectangular squared store. Okay, so I'm gonna… I'm gonna extrapolate here. Rachel's asking about signage. What about a store that really doesn't have that much money to invest in signage? It's, you know, I'm changing it out a lot, I, you know, maybe I have my department signs that are… I put a little money into, but how do I make it look good on a budget?
Lyn Falk: Well, go back to the sign design criteria. Seriously, you don't put up a sign unless it's absolutely necessary. So, is it necessary? Do you really have to say it? And if you have to say something about it, use as few words as possible. Also, a graphic can help, a photo, instead of words sometimes can be effective, but I… Make it so you can change them, but don't put signs up just to put a sign up. It really has to be… there's a reason for why you're putting it up, and go to your sign design criteria. You can change them out, you can make it inexpensive, but are they always going to be in the same frames? That's probably one thing that you invest in, and then you just change out what you're putting in those frames. But I stand back, first of all, I do an audit of all the signs, but I stand back and I say, what kind of signage do I need to inform myself as a customer to get through this store or to pick up and buy something? A lot of stores that doesn't need to be a lot. Some stores need a lot. So… Yes.
Dane Cohen: And then what about, brand signage? So using, you know, collateral from brands, how do you feel about that? So it's not… it's maybe not your… right, it's gonna vary, there's different brands. Do you use outside collateral?
Lyn Falk: You can… you can use some. Be careful, because vendors will want to sell you, you know, they want as much visual space as possible in your store, so they're going to say, we'll give you this whole fixture, we'll give you this illuminated sign, you know, if you buy this much product line. But you don't want to be, you don't want to lose your brand to just be a shop of other brands. Now, a lot of shoe stores have a lot of brands that are very important to their clientele, but we still want that shoe store's brand to still trump all of the other ones.
Dane Cohen: So…
Lyn Falk: Make sure your brand is first and foremost, and then, by the way, we sell these other brands. So you just have to be careful and work… be… be very… like, fair with all of your vendors. Unless what you sell a ton of one vendor, yes, then you can give them a little more. But otherwise, you know, if you've got four other vendors and you're buying a similar amount of product lines, treat them all the same. They have to abide by your rules.
Dane Cohen: Yeah, and I would just give a hot tip here, because I see it more than I would like to… like to. If a vendor gave you a sign in 1993, and it is still up and yellow and dusty, it's time to ask them for a new sign. I see that way too often.
Lyn Falk: You, you know, you… we laugh, but that is true, and I don't know if we're gonna get in light bulbs, because lighting is the most important element in any store, but I can't tell you how many times I see light bulbs out, especially at windows. I'm like. How is that even possible in today's retail market? So, yeah.
Dane Cohen: Or different types of light bulbs, you have one, I want… yeah. Well, Lyn, we're gonna have to save the light bulb, discussion for…
Lyn Falk: session. Seriously, Dane.
Dane Cohen: We could do a whole lighting session. Well, we're definitely gonna have you back, because this was such an incredible conversation, such incredible engagement. We even have more questions coming in, so we'll let you, email Lyn. Lyn, if you have two more minutes, we could stay on and answer another question or two. But, you know, I know we're coming up at time, so for anyone that joined today, thank you so much. This was such a fantastic conversation. I love getting into these topics, because they're tangible, right? And I hope there's something that you could have taken back to your store this afternoon. Remember, your store door opens every day. You have a chance to do something new. So, thank that we're getting some great positive feedback in the chat, and I have one more question. This is a great one. It's a multi-pronged question. We have great windows facing a main street. in our small town, how should we be using those from a signage perspective? From a mannequin perspective? How often should I be changing this out?
Lyn Falk: Okay. a whole nother… presentation just on window displays, because to do them right is so important, and we always look at the traffic going by, so if it's Main Street, they probably have traffic going 25 to 35 miles an hour, and then we have people across the street, and so we want to grab attention. For those types of traffic. And we want to sign up higher on the building, and then we do need something at eye level for pedestrian traffic that's walking right in front of that storefront. So, something on your front door or on your window. Then we also, depending on what you're selling, sometimes we like to say that, or services that you offer, up higher across the top of the window in vinyl, white vinyl, if possible, white vinyl is the most legible from a distance. And then your store hours, your website or QR code to get people to your website. So that's the kind of signage we look at. We kind of look at it layered from high from across the street, and then eye level at… or below, or up at the top of the windows for pedestrian traffic. And then we'd like to layer, so we have the vinyl on the windows, sometimes some graphics on the windows, then a Three-dimensional prop, whether it's mannequins, pedestals, whatever your product is, and then a little bit of a backdrop. you're hanging something, we always like to have ceiling grids above the windows, and then you just hang a backdrop. You can still see in the windows. It helps ground the eye from a distance. Again, you know, your eye comes, and now you can see the prop, or the product line, or the mannequin in front of that backdrop.
Dane Cohen: Alright, great. And just a quick, what's a good rule of thumb for how often you should be changing out those?
Lyn Falk: Again, it depends on the traffic downtown. So, definitely seasonal, so 5 times a year, winter, spring, summer, fall, and holiday. But if you also have special events or parades or, you know, something that you need to change it out in between that, then you do. You might always be associating yourselves with what's going on in the community. So, the community has a sidewalk sale, you know, change out the windows for a sidewalk sale.
Dane Cohen: Yeah. All right, well, Lyn, again, this was fantastic. Thank you, everyone, for joining this episode of Indie Insights Live. We'll be back next Thursday for another Awesome discussion. We're gonna be talking private label next Thursday, so make sure you sign up. We will see you live. Thank you for the questions. Lyn, we're gonna have you back very soon. And we appreciate…
Lyn Falk: Your enthusiasm. Thanks for.
Dane Cohen: Listen, this is what we love, this is what we do, we love retail, it's in our blood, Lyn.
Lyn Falk: No, it's so true. All right, thanks everyone.
Dane Cohen: Bye-bye. Bye.