Monday, April 26, 2010

Seriously, what are they thinking? -or- A humiliating store design

Sometimes I wonder what companies must be thinking when they design their stores.  There are the stores that like to rearrange their product every other week so I am stuck wondering where they've put the toilet paper this time.  Then there are stores who think the candy aisle should be tucked several rows back, right next to cosmetics (so  I can be reminded what all chocolate does to my skin and waistline before I buy it).

But the other day I saw the strangest, cruelest, most bizarre store design ever conceived.   In the midst of cluelessness or madness, maybe both, a department store placed the preteen boys' clothes section directly across from woman's lingerie.  Nothing like a young man, just realizing cooties is a disease worth catching, already uncomfortable to be out shopping with his mommy, to arrive in the area of the store set aside for his clothes and be faced with row after row of over-the-shoulder-boulder-holders, mysteriously silky, lacy, multicolored underpants, and blank faced mannequins showing off various designs of sexiness.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy embarrassing my tweenage boys as well as the next mom, but making their face blush so deep blood vessels burst while trying to simultaneously avert their eyes and stare just seems a little too cruel.  Here they're expecting to spend the afternoon bored out of their mind, trying to find clothes comfortable to wear 638 days in a row without washing, and instead they are forced to think about the curves of the opposite sex and all the ways girls go about covering, altering, showing off those curves.  With their moms standing next to them!  Boys shouldn't be reminded their moms are female until well after puberty, if ever.

Not to mention the distraction element.  Poor mothers trying to buy their sons some clothes.  "Do you want boxers or briefs?"  "Honey, are you listening to me?"  "If you keep looking at your feet while you walk you're going to run into that ... Ouch!  Did you bump your head?"

I truly felt bad for those boys.  Who thought this was a good idea?  Anyone?  But that isn't the worst part!  Imagine being the adult woman, at the store trying to decide how much support is just right, looking up to see her sons' friend shopping a few steps away.  "Why hello! Yes, I am Junior's mother standing here holding up two bras and debating their usefulness.  I'm sure we'll both appreciate the mental picture you'll have of me every time you come over to play with my son."  I will NEVER be buying my underthings there!  Ever. 

I'm still in shock over that store design.  Why not put the prophylactics next to video game controllers (one could argue they serve the same purpose for some men)?  Or maybe feminine hygiene should be stocked across from action figures?  Seriously, what are they thinking?
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26 comments:

  1. (Goodness, I don't think my comment posted the first time.)
    I sometimes wonder why stores choose their lay-outs. Someone must surely being paid a lot to design them.

    And I just noticed I'm on your '10 Recently Posted' blogroll, thanks!!

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  2. Yipes! That is poor design for sure.

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  3. Ha ha ha, love it. It is hard enough to go to the store with boys, but I can't imagine that one. I hate walking through the womens underwear section with my younger two boys because they walk through the isle knocking the bras onto the floor without a care in the world. It is awkward to have the grab underwear and say "look how big this pair is!"(all the time wishing that pair would fit myself)

    ahh the joys of life.

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  4. Seriously!? Ummm.... awkward! I think it's quite clear that either they weren't thinking, or they hired Satan himself to arrange the layout.

    It's embarrassing enough to be checking out styles and sizes with your little toddlers running around trying them on and asking, "What's this for mommy? A hat? A weapon? Haha, look at this one! It IS a hat!"

    If only they could stay that innocent.

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  5. My first thought as I began reading was the idiot who put the toys in the same aisle as the cereal at my grocery store (although, he was probably a genius, now that I think about it) but this is definitely worse. Worse, by a long shot, too.

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  6. I totally hear you on this. I get super-bugged every time Tar-zhe changes the order of the store.

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  7. oh man, that painted the funniest picture in my mind. Hilarious! Those poor boys. I still love teasing Barlow about the fact that his mom and sisters are girls, with husbands who feel about them the way he feels about me. Never gets old. Bwahahaha!

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  8. Ha! That's hilarious. Maybe they thought it would make the boys want to go back for more.

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  9. LOL! I would have probably had a blast at that store. ummm... I mean be embarrassed for my poor kids.

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  10. um, awkward much!?!

    i dont know if that is worse, or the fact that i have to walk 10 miles to the back of the store, just to buy 1 gallon of milk. ugh!

    i just dont get it.

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  11. Ok, I am laughing and laughing, but it's a sad sort of laugh. The sad truth is that this isn't new. They've been doing this at least since I was a teenager and it is incredibly traumatic and embarrassing. They ought to have a restricted section where they put everything potentially embarrassing to anyone at all.

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  12. Ha! Kids make shopping for certain items especially interesting. I am reminded of the time that I took my toddler shopping for lingerie with me and she was giving a dressing room play by play the whole time..."Mom! Why are you taking off your clothes?! Mom! Why are you trying on underwears?!"...all at full volume, naturally.

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  13. PS That was quite some time ago...I didn't mean to put any unfortunate images into anyone's brains.

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  14. Oh my gosh. That's hilarious and disturbing.

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  15. I was also thinking about all those skimpily clad HEADLESS mannequins, Charlotte! Talk about trauma! It's very disturbing to the young male psyche!

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  16. My poor son does the same thing everytime he passes by the ladies undies section. Gazes automatically at his feet and goes beet red.

    Bizarre design and I have seen that before.

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  17. I wonder if they are in league with porn directors...

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  18. Hilarious! I can only imagine the embarrassment of bra shopping with your son's buddies spectating. The only thing worse would be if you were shopping for bras for one of your daughters.

    Great post!

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  19. Right now my 4 year old thinks it's hilarious to go buy the bra section and cop a feel. Can you imagine my worry...I wonder what that will mean for when he's a tween and in a situation such as you describe. I shudder to think about it.

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  20. Charlotte, that's the funniest post I've read in a long time! Thanks for that!
    LaurieBee

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  21. Awesome post! I love embarassing my kids too. That reminds me of that scene from Elf when he sends lingerie to his dad because it was for "someone special"!

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  22. Ok that totally is a store you visited here in El Paso. I never would have noticed that because my boys are all grown up. Send in a comment to the store to get it changed.

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  23. bad, horrible, terrible idea. my 2 yr old is the only one who goes to stores with me & last week when he saw a bra, he proceeded to pick it up, bring it over to me, & tell me that it looked like the "makeup" I had at home. (Even when they aren't tweens...the lingerie dept. should be tucked somewhere secret...like in the basement of the store!

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  24. Someone behind the scenes of that store was getting a good laugh out of it! That's too funny...

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  25. In a marketing class I took in college, we learned that stores are very purposeful about their layouts. For example, the milk is always at the back of a grocery store so you have to walk past everything else (and hopefully make impulse purchases) while you look for that item that's on almost every person's list.

    I can't imagine what the purpose is for the layout you described. Maybe there is something to Amber's comment. Or maybe there are other sections of the store beyond that are a draw. It does seem strange, but I bet it's no accident. I would still make a complaint to management though.

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  26. Poor boys. Poor mom.

    Stupid store!

    Funny post! :)

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