Observation lab

Observation Lab by L. Valls
If I have ever made any valuable discoveries, it has been owing more to patient
attention, than any other talent. Isaac Newton: (1642-1727)

NoFrills grocery store, corner
of Pacific and Dundas St.,
Toronto

Before you enter the store:
Does the store draw you in? If so, how?
- Yes. Big and comfortable parking in front of the store, place for my dog to wait for me
near the entrance (and gather compliments and treats). Uncluttered wide entrance.
Is the door open or closed?
- The door automatically senses the approach of the customer and opens up.
How does this make you feel?
- Welcomed
How big is the sign lettering and in what font?
- Huge and highly visible, sunny yellow elements in lettering.
What does it tell you about the store?
- They are not fancy, but not repulsively cheap and dreadfully low in quality either.
Environment:
What is the color scheme of the store? How does this affect you?
- White and light colors. Easy to shop, clean.
What type of floor does the store have? How does this effect the environment?
- Linoleum squares. Very clean, good traction for the cart and even wet leather shoe soles.
How high is the ceiling? How does this feel?
- Very high, feels full of air
How brightly lit is the store? How does this affect you?
- Bright, I can shop with my sunglasses on. I like it.
How loud is the environment?
- Not loud, but not a dead silence either.
What is causing the noise?

- Background music and people.
Is there music playing? If so, does it fit the environment?
- Yes. Yes. Young artists, cheerful energetic songs.
Is the store warm or cold?
- The temperature inside is adjusted seasonally, to keep 20C inside. Very nice.
Is the store crowed with merchandise or is it sparse?
- Neither. Just the right density.
Does the store have a distinctive smell?
- No, it smells fresh and clean, no distinctive smell.
Where is the cash register located?
- To the right of the door leading to exit.
How visible is the store security?
- The guard appears and disappears, i.e. sometimes they hire guards, more often – not.
There are cameras on the ceiling, very discreet.
How long do you want to stay in this store?
- Maybe 5-30 min, while shopping for items on my list
Does the environment influence the perceived value of the merchandise?
- Yes. As fair and modern value, as fresh.
Personnel:
How long does it take before a sales person initiates contact?
- As soon as you approach them and start talking to them. I.e. they don’t seek you, but
they are there for you.
Does the salesperson have a script to follow with each customer?
- Cashiers apparently do, even if informally.
Does the salesperson treat different customers differently?
- Yes and no. I.e. with everyone they are extremely polite, helpful and friendly. With some -
more chatty and open, click better, obviously.
What is the ratio of salespeople to customers?
- I don’t know. 1 to 100? I to 1000? The lines to the cashiers are very short usually, no
longer than 2-3 customers at a time.
What age and gender are the employees?
- Young to middle age, all cashiers are female, all other departments – male.
Are the salespeople using the store products?
- Yes
Do the salespeople have a uniform?
- Yes
Do the salespeople match the stores image?
- Yes
Products:
What is the first product that you notice?
- Fast perishing produce that is on sale – berries, cherries, grapes, etc.
Is there a central display table with featured products?
- No
Where are items that are “for sale” located in the store?
- Throughout the store, next to the regularly priced items. Also in 2 distinct areas where
cheap bulk products on sale are located.
How are the products arranged? By function? By price? By color?
- Mostly by the need to be refrigerated or not (periphery and near periphery is refrigerated)
and then by categories: produce, bakery, meat counter and deli, dairy, etc.
Are there free samples or demonstrations?

- occasionally
What products are at eye level?
- Smallish packages with tiny print and rare items, i.e of which there are no huge rows of
boxes.
What items in the store are in the least accessible locations?
- Rare items, i.e .fat free baked corn chips. Also, items so popular, that it’s hard to reach
for the last box or bottle hiding near the wall deep inside the shelf.
Where are the most and least expensive products located?
- Next to each other within category. Items on sale are also in 2 special areas of the store
Are the prices of the products easy to find?
- Yes, but not so easy to read or to compare without calculator, to figure out price per lb or
per unit
Are there impulse items near the cash register?
- Not so many. Mostly some junk (candy bars), fresh flowers, some small sized items on
sale, etc.
Customers:
Are most customers alone or with someone else? What is the relationship?
- Alone. When with someone else, it’s family members or buddies.
What is the average age and gender of the customers?
- Young to middle age adults. Not too many elderly or kids (i.e. an elderly person or a kid
without a companion).
When a customer enters the store, do they tend to walk in the same path or
direction? –
- Yes, counter clockwise.

How long do customers stay in the store, on average?
- About 30 min
Do customer touch the products? Is this encouraged?
- Yes. Absolutely.
Do most customers appear to be on a mission or are they browsing?
- On a mission
What percent of customers purchase products in the store?
- 100%
Other Observations:

I have noticed that NoFrills is both my favorite grocery chain (best marriage between
price and quality of merchandise) and that this one (corner of Pacific and Dundas) is my
favorite location among all NoFrills in Toronto. They have a better produce area, they are
very spacious, cash registers are faster and better manned (much more efficient and
friendly cashiers), and the clientele is not extremely elderly, destitute or decrepit,
clientele ethnically is much more diverse and vibrant than in other locations, which
makes shopping easier and more pleasant to the eye.

Bad things that I discovered about that store are (1) bread section – nearly all bread is old,
sold on the expiration day or 1 -2 days prior to expiration date. (2) Very poor selection of
fat free vegan products (breads, cookies, canned food, milk alternatives, etc.).

Solero Mediterranean Bakery,
corner of High Park and Dundas
Avenue, Toronto

- Yes, attractive smell of baked goods, breads and pastries. Open view from the streets to
the bakery backrooms where bakers work.
- Closed.
- That it is warm inside, protected from storm and rain
- I can’t see it from the sidewalk next to the store, because it is on a big highly placed
awning, and I never walk on the other side of the street
- It’s a fancy store sign, but useless, so owners are more concerned with making their
store looking pretty and advertising with smells and show of bakers working than
advertising its name with words and lettering.
Environment:
- Bright and cheerful, ‘Mediterranean’
- Large ceramic tiles arranged in checkerboard pattern, alternating saturated teal and deep
maroon colors. Very pretty, shiny and meticulously cleaned, but I have never noticed it
before, if it was not for this assignment.
- Very high. Traditional establishment, European style.
- Very bright, cheerful.
- Not very loud at all.
- Customers interacting with store clerks, background music.
- Yes, classical music. I don’t know, the owners are Serbian, I would rather listen to the
Serbian radio channel in the store, with their music, both traditional and contemporary.

- Warm
- Crowded, but not overwhelmingly so.
- Yes, nice smells of bakery goods.
- Very far away from the entrance, one room removed from the entrance, actually.
- Not visible at all.
- Very briefly, just long enough to pick up what I want to get from there, a few minutes.
- Yes. Fairly cheap (average and below average) and affordable.
Personnel:
- They are behind the counters, if approached, very responsive.
- No, not at all.
- No.
- There are only two clerks stationed behind two counters, and maybe 10 people inside the
store at any given time.
- Young women in their thirties. However, at one time my son (young man) was working
there, right after college, while he was looking for the job in the hotel industry.
- I don’t know. My son was never using baked goods from this bakery, but he was buying
rye flour from the bakers for me. I bake at home and white rye flour is impossible to get
any other way in Toronto, but from bakers directly, begging them to resell you a bag.
- No.
- Yes.
Products:
- Items in the fridge to the left of the entrance door.
- No.
- Mostly in the second room, where freshly baked breads and pastries are . They are sold
at a discount on a second day or by the end of the first day.
- By function, I guess.
- Never.
- Those that are flying off the shelves, the most popular and smallish in size.

- The least popular and attractive items
- The most expensive items are in the entrance room of the store – deli counter and
groceries, the least expensive – breads and pastries in the second room.
- No. Informing customers about prices is far back on the store owner’s mind. Prices are
indicated, yes, but difficult to read or difficult to find. It is all very affordable anyways,
cheaper than in supermarkets.
- Yes.
Customers:
- alone
- The average of the population of the area. I.e. all ages and genders are represented.
direction? –
- No.
- Several minutes to half an hour.
- Well, yes, but not necessarily touching breads and pastries with bare hands, tongs and
plastic bags are provided.
- Both.
- 100%
Other Observations:
The bread slicer is now moved from behind the counter to the position next to the bread
shelves, so customers can slice their own bread. No need to ask the clerk to do it for you.
There are no more open refrigerated shelves, their places are occupied by the expanded
bread assortment. All refrigerated items are now behind the glass: behind the glass doors
of a tall refrigerator, for example, which makes it more difficult to overview the items
and locate the one you need, unless you open the door and stand there, staring. But it
protects items better from spoilage, I guess.

The Sweet Potato store, Dundas
St. between High Park and
Pacific Avenue, Toronto

- No, the store doesn’t draw me in. There is nothing attractive in its cluttered appearance
and it doesn’t promise anything interesting or useful.
- Closed
- Neutral. I don’t care
- The lettering is very big and artsy (some letters, like “o”s are replaced by the pictures of
potatoes, but you can’t see it if you walk next to the store. It’s high above the line of the
eyesight.
- The store advertises itself to itself , not to the customers.
Environment:
- ‘Earthy’, dirty, unsaturated colors of washed pale yellows and creams.
- Surprisingly, rich, dark stained natural wood floor.
- The ceiling feels low for the store of that size (a single large room, feels like being inside
an oversized matchbox, or even deep sock drawer.
- Dull lighting, underlying earthy feel, dim as inside of a grave. I don’t want to stay there a
minute longer than I need to complete the assignment.
- Quite quiet. Low level of sounds.
- Some interaction between the cashier and cash register, the customer.
- The music is quiet jazz, playing in the background. I have never noticed it before, it’s
eclectic and doesn’t draw attention to itself and doesn’t really set the mood for shopping
either.
- Neither.
- Crowded, but for the store of that size the choices are surprisingly poor and unattractive.
I’ve been to the natural food stores 5-6 times smaller in size with way better selection and
assortment of goods.

- no
- To the right of the entrance door, next to the exit. There are 2 or 3 of the cash registers,
but only one is manned, rarely two. The business stays put, survives, but it is clearly not
popular.
- As little as possible.
- Maybe, it conflicts with the prices. The store feels overpriced, pretentious.
Personnel:
- They don’t. Customers help themselves. Whenever I asked employees a question in that
store, I got negative or unsatisfactory answers, sometimes a lie, i.e. the employee were
giving me information which was incorrect.
- I don’t know.
- I don’t know.
- I don’t know
- Young, early twenties, both male and female.
- I don’t know if they can afford them.
- No.
- Yes.
Products:
- Some produce on sale that I am not interested in.
- No.
- Outside, next to the entrance door and inside next to the entrance door.
- By function.
- No.
- Brightly lit, colorful, beautiful items (surprisingly so), like pumpkins or orange/yellow swett
peppers, or something very trendy, like Quinoa packages.
- Garbage that no one buys anyways or bulky items.
- I don’t know. Everything is expensive in that store, except items on sale.

- Yes.
- Yes. Mostly chocolate bars of all sorts.
Customers:
- Utterly alone.
- Young professional males. Mid-twenties, mid-thirties.
direction? –
- No.
- 10-20 minutes.
- Yes, yes.
- Both.
- Probably 95%.
Other Observations:
This observation exercise disclosed elements of design in The Sweet Potato store that
were influencing me, of which I was not aware before. I thought it was only about prices
being very high that put me off. But in reality it is the store’s dull color scheme, dim
lighting and sleepy melancholic music choice. Also, it is quite crowded, tight space,
despite the huge size of the shopping area, unpleasant to move between the isles,
navigating between working employees, placing items on shelves, blocking passageways
with their trolleys, etc. Cumbersome, somber, unhappy shopping experience.

Loblaws. Dundas and Roncesvalles
Ave., Toronto.


- Yes. Many positive memories of shopping there. It’s a high quality store, bright inside and
out, there is a place to park my dog and my bycicle and my car, protected from rain or
snowfall.
- It has motion sensors, so it opens up when I approach.
- welcomed
- Huge. Lettering and color palette seems to be from the sixties.
- That it is also a well-established 50 years old establishment and that it is hip and modern.
Environment:
- Difficult to characterize, actually, light neutral colors, on cool side.
- Clean white linoleum squares. Feels very clean.
- Very high, feels very spacious.
- Very bright cold light. Cooler than natural sunlight, so it feels too stark.
- Not very loud.
- Background music, employees chatting among themselves and with customers,
customers among themselves.
- Yes, there is music, very quiet, radio.
- Normal temperature.
- It feels like it is medium croweded, almost sparse/emptyish. Recession hit this expensive
food store hard. They halved both the number of different items in store and the number
of identical items on shelves.
- Yes. Roast chicken.
- To the right of the exit door.
- Not long. It is indeed half-empty, compared to what it was before and the lighting and
color scheme is too cold.
- It does somewhat. It is still a higher end store, but the choices are not as interesting or
varied, so I don’t feel that prices THAT high for the same bread and milk as in discount
stores are justified.
Personnel:
- As soon as you seek their assistance.

- Besides formal greeting, no.
- Not really.
- I don’t know.
- All are exceptionally young, basically school children, or young. There are exceptionally
few middle age employees in this store.
- I don’t know. Unless they get some store discount, they shouldn’t
- Yes.
- Yes.
Products:
- Freshly baked pastries and bread at the entrance.
- No.
- There is a special area, or two for that on opposite ends of the store.
- By function
- No.
- Apparently, the useless and the least popular ones. That’s a surprise!
- Everything is well accessible in that store.
- The most expensive are probably the organic fruits and veggies and meat and deli
section. The least expensive are probably breads.
- Yes.
- Yes.
Customers:
- This is the store where you can find the most young couples and mothers with babies
shopping together. Before recession it was full of single young professionals as well. Now
they have disappeared. The store is no longer as interesting to them, doesn’t offer
interesting grocery choices as before.
- Both male and female, average about 25 years old.
direction? –
- I don’t know, yes, maybe.
- Maybe 30 min or somewhat longer.

- Yes, yes.
- Both. A lot of them are browsing, in fact.
- I would guess 100% find something for themselves.
Other Observations:
Until this exercise, I didn’t realise that the store cold stark lighting scheme was affecting
me, making me want to leave quickly. Interesting.

Zellers, Dundas West St. Toronto

- No it doesn’t. It’s outdated. Both inside and outside.
- Closed
- Cheap store, difficult to get it and out with the cart or baby carriage
- Huge, feels like from the seventies.
- Older mostly cheap store.
Environment:
- Somewhat grayish bright colors.
- Clean light gray linoleum squares
- Fairly high, feels roomy, spacious.
- It’s a well lit store. I like it.
- Not loud at all.
- Mostly rock music from the 1970s is heard.
- Yes. It feels like “oldies but goodies”
- Normal

- Definitely crowded
- Yes. It smells like new clothes and a little plastic-y
- Both to the left and to the right of the exit doors.
- Very visible guard at the entrance. Cameras are not visible.
- Indefinitely. It is easy to stay inside and browse.
- Yes. It is cheap, clean, affordable.
Personnel:
- They don’t
- No, not really
- No.
- I don’t know, maybe 1:10
- Middle age to older age (40s, 50s, 60s), mostly somewhat younger women and older
men.
- I am sure they do.
- Yes.
- Yes. This store is frozen in time. Hasn’t changed at all in the last quarter of a century or
longer.
Products:
- Seasonal items (Halloween costumes, winter clothing for babies and kids)
- Yes.
- Along with the regular priced merchandise.
- By function
- No.
- Difficult to say, since most of it is on clothing racks and clothing shelving, below eye level.
- Junk. Less popular stuff
- The least expensive products are located in the area near cash registers
- yes

- Yes.
Customers:
- Most are in a company of a family member or a friend.
- Middle aged women with kids, middle aged men.
direction? –
- I don’t know. I am not sure.
- Maybe an hour or so.
- Yes.
- browsing
- I believe 100%.
Other Observations:
This exercise made me realise how much Zellers is stuck in the past. They do have
updated ‘designer’ clothing every season, but otherwise, in every other category of
merchandise, they are so stuck in the seventies that it’s not funny.

Pet Valu, Bloor St West, Toronto

- No, it’s far away from the sidewalk.
- Closed.
- That it is warm inside.

- Fairly big, but strangely invisible. For years I walked by and never realized there was a
pet food store

- Modest store. ( Later you realize how expensive everything inside is)
Environment:
- Bright primary colors. Very cheerful
- Yellow linoleum squares. Dirt proof, I guess, since every two-legged customer enters with
a four-legged one.
- Fairly high, spacious.
- From the outside it looks dimly lit, but inside it’s perfectly well lit store.
- Long enough, yes.
- Rock music, dogs barking and playing. Owners shouting.
- Yes. Cheerful and energetic.
- Normal temperature.
- Crowded, very.
- Yes. Smell of smoked treats, smoked bones for the doges, etc.
- Right next to the entrance/exit door.
- Long enough for my dog to sniff everything he wants and then for me to browse the
shelves.
- No, not really. You would thing it’s an average pet store, but the prices are surprisingly
high. However, there is everything you could ever want in a pet store. I have never left
empty handed. They have everything and for that I am willing to pay higher prices.
Personnel:
- Immediately as you enter the store.
- Yes.
- No. They are very nice and friendly with everyone.
- Maybe 1 to 5.
- Young mend and women in their mid-twenties, mid-thirties.
- I don’t know.
- Yes.

- Yes. Very positive.
Products:
- I don’t notice any products, I mostly focus on my dog as we enter and on people.
- No.
- I haven’t seen anything for sale in that store.
- By function.
- For the pet treats yes.
- Exactly those that I am looking for. It’s uncanny.
- Exactly those I couldn’t care less about.
- I don’t know.
- Yes.
- No.
Customers:
- Most customers are with their pets.
- Middle aged men and women (mid-twenties to mid-fifties)
direction? –
- I don’t know.
- Maybe 20 minutes, not longer.
- Yes.
- Browsing.
- 100%
Other Observations:
This exercise made me realize for the first time how bright and positive the color palette
is in that store. It’s like being on a children’s playground. I don’t know if it’s attractive or
not, but this store is the best of all in our area where we have at least 10 pet stores which I
will refuse to visit. This one is my choice number one and it seems to have just the right
balance of the colors, light, number of choices of dog food and treats and pet grooming
products.

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