Retail wall #1 was pretty much a failure. I had this idea of creating a 3-D version of a menu board. Thought that would be really fun. It breaks some retailing rules: people like to buy when things are heavily merchandised (big piles of stuff to sell, all over). The sparse display/ limited inventory typically doesn’t work that well. People generally like descriptions of new products. We had none. I knew these might be obstacles, but I thought we’d give it a try.
Well, it didn’t work. We sold a few T-shirts, a few bulk-coffees, a few filters. But nothing near what I think we’re capable of. So this is version 2 of the retail wall. This time we have a brand new idea-paint wall (I spent too much time learning how to skim-coat the brick wall to make this wall). New items, new prices, and new descriptions. Let us know what you think. I’m going to play around with product up there (as easy to change as pulling out a dry-erase marker). Better packing (e.g., moving from delis to paper bags for bulk coffee sales). If this doesn’t work we’ll have to get more normal with our retailing in the next version.