english gardens

1. I went to Macy's. They market to mid to upper-class people who have dispensible income.

2. a) From the outside, there was a display window with a dressed up manikin in a wintery, christmas looking scene. The manikin was wearing winter apparel (coat, hat, gloves, etc.). There was snow on the ground and a snowy looking background, along with Christmas ornament strings scattered across the ground. When you walk in, you see a projected clock in the forst floor and then there's the perfume section in the front and the women's shoes along the side. The second floor has women's clothing on both sides of you with jewelry in the middle. The third floor has home goods, starting with plates and glassware near the entrance.
b) Inside the store, there was Christmas music going because it was Black Friday and that's what pretty much all the stores do. It was very loud, due to all the shoppers. I would assume it was more crowded than usual. It seemed to have the normal sounds of people busy Christmas shopping on black Friday, meaning everywhere is busy and slightly noisy.
c) Most of the clothes were displayed on racks throughout the clothes sections, a few things like jeans were put onto some tables. The glassware was on glass shelves. The china was on black tables (they were covered in fabric), more like podium style. The jewelry was in cases or on racks for some of the less expensive things. The shoes are on the wall, and you have to request them all if you would like to try them on. The teen section has a more teen-like-feel. The colors get away from the red and black of the majority of the rest of the store, and are instead a darker blue/turquoise color along with more teen-like decorating of hip looking manikins.
d) The floors of the store are all a white tile except in the teen section where they are black and have somewhat of a sparkle to them.
e) The outside sign tht says Macy's matches the red and black theme by having black lettering with a red star. Inside the store, the signs for the elevators and the bathrooms have a white background, with black lettering and picture symbols. There wasn't any set section labeling that I noticed. I think that does help Macy's though, not to have a misses section vs a lady's section- it allows customers not to feel limited. The signs on the actual merchandise racks and shelves had an off-white background with black lettering to make it easy to read.
f) The cashier area's are set up as a koisk-type style. They have one somewhat round desk with multiple registers on three or four sides in portions of the store like the teens. These registers have one line running to them. Other parts of the stores have registers in the middle of a section that are small and only serve one person at a time. These are usually in the back of a specific section like dresses.

3. This image trys to looks somewhat up-scale while still keeping the typical department store look. They stuck with the red and black scheme that makes it seem like it is more up-scale. Red and black is a traditional color scheme. Red can be associated with celebrities and the red carpet. Black is usually a sleek color that can make another color stand out. The clothes in the store are more high-class also. There were multiple racks of furs. In most stores, you wouldn't see this, because not that many people wear furs. While I was there, my friend and I saw a guy offering to play 5,000 dollars for a fur. We were both in shock, and the salesperson started to negociate with the man a fair deal. I didn't know that you could negoicate for prices in a department store, but my dad explained that since it was such a high price, and they work off of commission, negociating is possible. The elevators in the middle also give the feel of a nice place. They have glass doors and gold lights. Other stores won't have elaborate elevators in the middle, and instead just have them on the side, and in the wall with only escalators in the middle of the store.

4. As I said before, we saw the one man interacting with the salesperson over the fur. The saleperson seemed to be engaged to the customer, but not willing to give him the first price he offered. He instead started to negociate. Other customers were in a hurry and just walking. Some customers were engaged in certain types of merchandise or certain sections. I did see men who were with their wives and looking bored or just following along. Most customers were shopping by themselves, but salespeople were around. The cash registers were all busy, but I would assume that's because it was black friday.

5. The thing I like most about the store is the clock that is projected on the floor when you walk in on the first floor. It is an eye-catching item that is also helpful. A lot of the time, you lose track of time when shopping or you would like to check on the time, and this clock is bound to be seen based on it's unique design. It also gives the store a special feel, just because it has something cool that no one else has. I also noticed that them men's things were all on one floor in one secion, while the women's was on multiple floors, very spread out. This went back to what Paco said- that men feel very uncomfortable in the women's section, and that women make up more purchases than men. It was also interesting though that a man was the one making the $5000 offer for the fur coat. Men have always been known as better barginers even though it was a women's coat.