I don’t shop much. I generally don’t like malls. If I must shop, I prefer to do so online or at smaller, easy to navigate boutique stores.<\/p>\n
That said, yesterday’s quick visit to a Madison JC Penney<\/a> (Twitter<\/a>) store was a surprisingly pleasant experience. <\/p>\n Here’s why:<\/p>\n 1. The store was easy to navigate. It now features clean sight lines, simple to observe colors and styles surrounded by an interior that is easy on the eyes.<\/p>\n 2. Prices were reasonably easy to find. Some stores work hard to place the tag in a difficult to find location.<\/p>\n 3. The checkout process was fast and painless. Our customer service representative used a traditional cash register and credit card reader. I did not see any handheld devices.<\/p>\n 4. I assume that the clothes quality is “good enough”. We shall see.<\/p>\n I contrast this experience with my last visit to Macys. The aisles were small and crowded. At over 6′ tall, I can easily bump into racks and clothes, often sending them to the floor or disrupting the pile. Macys had loads of clutter, which made navigation a challenge, not to mention the negative overall experience.<\/p>\n I don’t shop often….<\/p>\n Sometimes, the guy that “breaks the glass” is jettisoned due to the organizational disruption caused by the required changes. Ousted CEO Ron Johnson’s<\/a> plans may be proven correct, but perhaps the path was a bit too tortuous for shareholders and possibly the staff. <\/p>\n