Successful shopkeeping means paying attention to so many details.  For example, what does your restroom say about your store? This one, at a branch of the women’s clothing store Chico’s, says: we will never, ever run out of paper towels.   Is this really the main message they want to convey?  By using the customer restroom for storage, the store is implying that the shopper is invading the store’s private area by using the bathroom.

Most retailers are required by law to make a restroom available to customers, and this opportunity to continue to make shoppers feel welcome and appreciated is sometimes lost.  There are, in fact, still stores where customers are treated as second-class citizens when they ask to use the restroom.  

Keep the bathroom locked, if you need to for security purposes, but be gracious when loaning out the key. We put the key to our restroom on a huge key-ring that includes a plastic putty knife with our logo taped on it so that it doesn’t accidentally go home in someone’s pocket — but we also have a backup in case someone forgets.  Usually that happens when someone leaves the key in the bathroom, so we just need to retrieve it.

If you sell soaps or lotions, or a neighboring business does, providing these comforts is a way of getting customers to try them.  We plan to put a reed diffuser by Botanicus in our rest room when the new tester arrives. Signage is helpful to explain that you sell the product being sampled.

Posters on the wall can provide additional information about your products — and to be fair, this Chico’s did have some fashion illustrations as wall art.  Hang a frame that allows you easy access to post flyers for upcoming events. 

If you must use your restroom for storage, use a cabinet or curtain to block the view of the supplies on hand. Remember not to keep cleaning supplies that might be dangerous to children in the bathroom.

It is essential that a restroom open to customers, as well as any used by your employees, be kept clean and well stocked with supplies.  If you are constantly running out of toilet paper, invest in a jumbo roll dispenser, or one that stores a backup roll. This has saved us a great deal of hassle, as well as the embarrassment of a customer finding no toilet paper on hand.  After all, you want your customers to feel welcome and comfortable so that they will stay in your store a long time and continue shopping!

Happy Retailing,

Carol “Orange” Schroeder