answers

In response to Brandon's question, I'm drawn into a store by the products they sell and if I am shopping for that product that day. I'm also drawn in by online shopping a lot. If I'm bored at home and contemplating shopping the next day, I tend to go online and look for things I want to buy. This allows me to see a good chunk of the store before I even get there. I think it makes my shopping more productive, but it also sometimes makes it harder if you can't find the item in the store that you saw online. Store displays are less likely to draw me into a store. Usually I don't like the items on the displays, and then if you do, they tend to be impossible to find in the store because the display is no where near the actual merchandise. I think if a store wants to gain a new customer, they have to have the certain feel a customer is looking for in order to draw the customer in. If not, the customer will forever bypass the store. I can't be drawn into a store that I feel out-of-place in, so it's all about the environment they create for the potential customers.

In response to Laura's second question, I think the "butt-brush" theory is not disproven with clearance racks. The theory states that things that involve careful examination before they buy should be placed far away as to avoid the "butt-brush". With clearance racks, however, careful attention is not required. I think clearance shopping is more impulse buying. Everything is marked down, so you don't contemplate buying it as much. If you make a quick buy and regret it later, it's still okay because you didn't spend all that much money. The racks are allowed to be placed close together because the cheaper prices will compensate for the "uncomfortableness" of the racks.