The Counter

Selling well, written down

Store design, upselling that isn't pushy, inventory that adds up, and keeping a team motivated. Written for whoever is standing at the counter — and whoever owns it.

A shopper beside a mall display with merchandise positioned at chest height

Store design·August 27, 2026·7 min read

Retail Window Display: Built for Three Seconds

A window has one job: turn a walk-past into a walk-in. That is a ratio you can count with a phone timer, and most of what sits in the glass was arranged for the wrong viewer.

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Illustration of a shop assistant adjusting a spotlight toward merchandise in a small clothing store

Retail Store Lighting: Re-Aim, Don't Add More

Most small shops light the room evenly, not the merchandise, so nothing draws the eye. A free ratio fix, accent light against ambient, beats another fixture order.

Store design·August 17, 2026·6 min read
VoVi countertop register and receipt printer showing the space needed for checkout hardware

Your Retail Store Layout Has a Dead Zone at the Door

The first several feet past your threshold are for adjusting, not shopping. Put your best display there and it disappears — here's where it belongs instead, and how to prove it.

Store design·August 5, 2026·7 min read
A mall shopper's view down a corridor: a wooden retail cart seen end-on from an approach angle, its long side receding into the distance, with a single pale ceramic jar lit on a riser at chest height on the near counter. Two shoppers walk past blurred in motion under warm evening mall lighting.

Mall Kiosk Layout: You Have No Front Door

A store gets a threshold, a door and a shopper who already committed. A cart gets one pass at walking pace. Arrange it for the walk-by.

Store design·July 25, 2026·6 min read

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