Feng Shui for Nursery Retailers

FENG SHUI FOR NURSERY RETAILERS
By Linda Cahan

By now most nursery retailers have a Feng Shui section with all sorts of bamboo, Asian inspired vases and perhaps some geodes and crystals. Don’t just sell the bamboo! Go a few steps further and bring Feng Shui principles into your store design and displays.

The ancient practice of Feng Shui works beautifully with modern retail design and display as much of Feng Shui is just good common design sense. What sets it apart is its focus on how energy flows through your store and finding a good balance of Yin and Yang and the natural elements in your decor.

Many retailers are looking for ways to improve their luck and by that, increase their sales. One of the most important aspects of Feng Shui is figuring out your intention. Intention means what you have in mind to do or achieve. It’s another word for purpose, aim, goal or plan.
What you intend or want to occur in your store or in your life will only happen if you take the physical action to make it so. Just wishing or praying without any action has some power – but not nearly as much as putting your own energy into the action of making some changes.

What changes can you make right now in your stores to bring in new life, new business and improve the overall Feng Shui?

Energy Flow
Let’s start with looking at how the energy flows in your store. One of the prime reasons that some items sell better than others is their location on the selling floor. If you have “dead zones” in your store whatever you place there stays there. Dead zones are where nursery gift items go to die. What makes a zone become dead? Some reasons behind dead zones are:
• poor light
• overhead fans that are too low
• compressed energy
• floor level change
• L-shaped area
• behind a column
• sharp corners
• lots of angles in ceiling or walls
• too deep in the store
• blocked by wall or fixtures

Some remedies are fairly obvious.
- Add extra light to dark areas, L-shaped or deep areas.
- Move any fixtures that are blocking the energy from flowing into the area.
- Remove or shorten fans that threaten to cut off the heads of customers.
- Remedy sharp corners with plants, re-positioning fixtures, cutting off sharp edges or adding fabric to soften the edge.
- If a wall blocks the area either tear it down, cut it in half or create an aisle that leads directly to the hidden dead zone. Then light it up!
- If there are lots of angles in the walls or ceiling in the dead zone it will create irritation and arguments. Again, add up-lights, some plants and even a few crystals to soften and scatter the negative energy. Don’t force people into that area unless absolutely necessary. It may be best for sale items.
- Dead zones are perfect for sale goods. People will cope will all types of bad energy for a good deal!

Once you bring the “dead” back to life look at how customers are walking around your store. If they stop in the front of your store and look at the fixture directly in their path for a few beats too long you know that fixture is most likely blocking them from flowing naturally into your store. In the front area of your store, which is your decompression zone, the fixtures customers encounter should hold whatever is seasonal and new. Ideally they should be angled to attract attention and lead the customer into the store and towards the wall behind the floor fixture. Getting people to travel into your departments requires visually exciting them along the way. When a customers eyes are lead to the wall behind the angled floor display it will sell far more if the colors are repeated from the floor to the wall. In Feng Shui, fixtures that block the flow of customer traffic are also blocking the energy flow to the rest of your store.
Look to see which fixtures can be angled to promote a better flow of customers and energy into the rest of your store.

Leaving enough space between your fixtures (minimum of 3’) and having wide aisles (at least 4 to 5 feet) will also improve the overall energy flow in your store as well as making your customers far happier. Few people enjoy the bump and touch experience with strangers and the ones that do- you may want to avoid.

There are just a few aisle plans that really work for most retailers. While gift shops can sell goods with straight aisles, they are rarely the most appealing aisle plan for most customers. Straight aisles allow energy and customers to rush quickly down the path of least resistance. Your goal is to get customers to stop at each fixture and thoughtfully gaze at the selection.
Some of the most successful specialty retailers in the USA have more circuitous floor plans. The Gap, Crate & Barrel, Pottery Barn, Smith and Hawken and Pier One all require the customer to navigate in a serpentine flow though their floor fixtures. Each time a customer turns they see a new merchandise story on an angled fixture. Shopping those stores is more of a visual treat and adventure. In terms of energy flow, these serpentine aisles allow energy – and people to flow easily but also slowly through the store. If they unconsciously move more slowly they will give more thought to what they are seeing. Save your long, straight aisles for bags of fertilizer and weed killer and create interesting “pods” of gift items on circular or smaller angled fixtures throughout the selling floor.

Balance of Yin and Yang and the Natural Elements
As a nursery retailer you have the perfect opportunity to create a great balance of elements in your store. For a human being to feel comfortable in a retail environment the basic elements that are in nature and our bodies must be represented in the store and be in balance with each other.
When an environment doesn’t “feel” right the first solution is to look at the balance of yin, yang and the elements in the space.
Yin and Yang
All life is made up of two extremes and all that falls in between. In China the two extremes are called Yin and Yang. Light and dark, wet and dry, sharp and curved, cold and warm are all polar opposites that work best when in balance with each other.

Yang is masculine. An all Yang store would be very bright and light with high ceilings, many large windows and lots of sharp angles in the fixtures and architecture. This store would initially be stimulating but customers and sales staff would soon feel their energy wane as there would be no visual hiding or soft places.

Yin is feminine. An all Yin store would be dark, dim, cave-like with low ceilings, soft lighting and rounded shapes lacking definition. The fixtures would be crammed full of merchandise but it would be difficult to see because of the lack of light. This type of store could make people feel tired and depressed by the darkness with a sense that the walls are closing in on them.

A successful nursery retailer has a balanced combination of Yin and Yang. There is a pattern of light that ranges from soft to brighter to “pop.” Rather than dark areas, there are small areas that are lit by task lighting such as fluorescents. Other sections highlighted by flood and spotlights balance these areas. The fixtures have rounded edges that are easy to walk around and the merchandise is well organized and attractively displayed.
The balanced store feels comfortable, welcoming and safe. It energizes people rather than making them tired and overwhelmed.

Balance of natural elements
Humans respond better to the elements being represented in as close to a natural state as possible.

The five elements are: metal, water, wood, fire and earth.
Each element brings something into your store that adds to the overall positive feel and energy.
• The Metal element strengthens mental perception. Metal can be found in the store structure, in metals urns or anything made of metal, it is also represented in rocks, stones, crystals, oval shapes, white tones and spheres.
• Too much Metal creates mental rigidity; while too little encourages indecisiveness and procrastination.

• Water enhances introspection and inspiration. Water is also represented by mirrors, glass, free-flowing shapes, real water features such as fountains or fish tanks, art depicting water and arrangements with black and dark colors as accents.
• Too much Water promotes spacey behavior and diminishes productivity, while too little creates stress and anxiety.

• Wood encourages intuition and creativity. The wood element can be found in your wood fixtures, wood floors, wood accessories, plants and potted flowers including silks, paper, art portraying gardens, plants, flowers and treed landscapes, rounded columns, beams, the colors blue and green and vertical stripes.

• Too much Wood can promote a sense of being overwhelmed, while too little can impede customers’ ability to connect with your merchandise.

• Fire ignites healthy emotional responses. You can find the fire element in: All animal based materials (leather, wool, silk, bone, feathers, etc.), anything in the red color spectrum (oranges, pinks and all shades of red), art showing people, animals, sunshine, fire or bright illumination, triangles, pyramids, cone shapes, computers, TV’s and all forms of lighting.
• Too much Fire stimulates impatience and impulsive behavior, while too little is chilling and cuts down on friendly interactions.

• Earth embraces sensuality and relaxation. Earth is found in your store in bricks or ceramic tiles, adobe stucco, yellow and earth tones, horizontal stripes, a large and visually clean sheet rocked ceiling, and squares or rectangles represented by some of the fixtures.
Too much Earth creates an atmosphere that’s overly serious or conservative, while too little promotes clutter, disorganization, and a lack of clarity and sensuality.

Find the right proportion or balance of each element in your store.
Too much or too little of one element can make a strong energetic difference which can make shopping or work less comfortable.

 Have the intention to bring balance into your store. Start with looking at how the energy and your customers flow through your space. Move any blocking fixtures or clutter. Make sure your aisle plan is welcoming and introduces them to as many interesting merchandise presentations as possible. Use angles to lead your customers around the store and delight them at each turn. Next, look at the balance of Yin and Yang in your store.
Upgrade your lighting if necessary and, if it makes sense, dim lights that seem too bright. Get rid of the sharp corners that can make people feel uncomfortable and add some soft surfaces if all yours are hard. Think about how you can create a balance in the natural elements in your store. If all your fixtures are wood add some glass, metal or mirrors. A water feature in a nursery retailers store is a natural addition.

Your intention to succeed and grow is very powerful. Make it even more powerful with action!

“Feng Shui for Retailers” by Linda Cahan is available from lindacahan@verizon.net or from ST Media Group International. Call 1-800-925-1110 or visit www.stmediagroup.com/stbooks to purchase your copy. It is the only book on Feng Shui just for retailers.