Date Posted: 11/24/2012 4:28:31 PM
Posted By: macawear88 Membership Level: Silver Total Points: 163
A good plan is one which offers free mobility for customers as well as maximum utilization of the space. In order to create clarity and visualization two imaginary entrepreneurs shall be used to develop an imaginary shop called The College Men Unlimited. The Entrepreneurs are Mike and Earl Moore.There are several types of floor layout that the College Men Unlimited can use. For a maximization of space utilization the College men might choose to combine more than one form of layout. This report seeks to offer options that Mike and Earl Moore may use in order to achieve maximum results. One of the important factors to be considered is that the plan should be economic (Scarborough et al.,2008). Among the types of layouts that the College Men unlimited may chose from are straight floor plan, the diagonal floor plan, Angular Floor Plan and finally the mixed floor plan. All these options have their own pros and cons which shall be expounded on in this report. The layout for retail stores normally depend heavily upon the size and shape of the space available (Waters, 2009). Combinations of all the above named layouts can be used to come up with a creative but efficient layout that shall seek fully utilize the store space. In making any layout for the retail store, the College men must have the following in account: The layout must be attractive to the customers The layout plan must seek to offer them maximum supervision of the clothes in order to prevent shop lifting The layout must allow for mobility of customers The must be enough ventilationTo deal with the allocation of office and storage space we shall consider the proportionate size of the space that was to be used for the store. In the previous building, the store covered 90% of the whole area (i.e. 3,600 square feet of the total 4,000). In the new premises the store shall take an area of 2,520 square feet. This is 90% of 2,800 square feet. The remaining 10% of the area shall be used for the office and store. The office and the store shall be in 280 square feet (14” by 20”). Let us begin by looking at the straight floor plan. According to Waters (straight floor plan, 2009) the straight floor is one of the most cost effective floor layouts with specific suitability to retail stores. Like the name suggests, in this layout the shelves are arraigned in straight lines. The offices are to be placed near the entrance for further security watch. Those in office should be placed in a manner that they can also watch whoever comes in or leaves the store. In this layout, the space between the walls and fixtures offer a corridor that is good for the mobility of both the customers as well as the personnel. Again the walls may be used to post some advertisements or decoration that may be appealing to the customers. This layout has to be accompanied by security cameras. This is because it is quite hard to monitor between the shelves. Again the cameras may be monitored from the offices which are situated close to the exit.Next is the diagonal plan. The main advantage of the diagonal layout is that the receptionist or the cashier has a better view of the customers’ movement. However, cameras may be installed at each corner in order to maximize security. Behind the last shelves there should a small changing room where customers can try the clothes. The diagonal view is also appealing because customers can look at more than one shelf. It also offers good mobility for the customers. Waters (diagonal floor plan) agrees that the diagonal plans create a nice mobility for the customers as well as a good view for the person in charge. The angular plan is suitable for high class shops. Since College Men seeks to attract all sorts of customers (from campus students to the upper class residents) the angular look may also be added to the layout. The angular layout seeks to maximally utilize the corner space in the shop. There at the corners the geometric plan can also incorporated together with the angular plan to attain the maximal utilization of the corner space.Finally the ultimate plan layout is referred to as Mixed Floor Plan. As the name suggests, this is a mixture of all the above explained layouts. It is the perfect one since each of the above named layouts has its advantage. Therefore to fully benefit the space, we shall use all the layouts above with emphasis that each layout be used where it is maximally beneficial. For instance the angular plan can be used only at the corners since it is the only plan that utilizes the corners fully in terms of space. The diagonal plan can be used at the shelves that are far behind with mirrors paced at the walls facing the spaces in between those spaces between the shelves for easy monitoring.Waters (Mixed Floor Plan, 2009) acknowledges that the mixing of different layout plans gives rise to a customized plan that enhances both mobility as well as monitoring for shoplifters. Apart from these two, mixed floor plan leaves room for innovation and creativity in terms of arranging the merchandise in the store. For security reasons again, bigger merchandise such as suits and coats should be placed at the far end. T-shirts and other light clothes should be in the front shelves. This is because the likelihood of light clothes hidden away by customers is higher than the suits. Security is always a priority in any business.In the actual arrangement, the angular floor plan shall be used at the corners of the store. The straight floor shall be used at the centre of the store. The diagonal shall be in the far end, away from the entrance. The mirrors should also be put in place so as to reflect the areas that are not very visible to the cashier.The store should be a small room. The rational here is that most of the merchandise should always be on sale. After all, there has been a booming business for the College men unlimited. At the end of each shelf there will be a trash can. This aims at keeping the floor clean from litter especially chewing gum. On the outside, Mike and Earl of the College Men Unlimited should paint it attractively. Flowers can be added to give the store a panoramic touch. There should not be many flowers. Two are enough, each on the side of the door.
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