Observation Lab

Are you paying attention?

So the shop that I’ve selected is a quirky little natural health store by the corner of Camana Bay, calledJessie’s Juice Bar.

If you look closely on the door, you can see me

I’ve also decided to use a word document, instead of any other quirky presentation methods because there’sso much I realized about this shop, that it got me excited and I would like to describe this intelligence in thisshop, more. In fact, I like the shop so much, I edited one picture and that to me, is akin to a photographerediting an entire album for a promo event.

Originally, the shop’s exterior perked my curiosity and made me wonder why there were barrels and fruits inbaskets lined by the window. However, because they said they sold organic food and had lots of greensaround it, I thought “Nah…I’m not about to eat food, that my food eats”

But as I passed by, I got more and more curious on the interior and finally stepped in.

The first thing I thought was, “Why would you rent such a peculiar location when there are many otherlocations with higher traffic”. I later realized that Camana Bay is the only location, where they’re actually up todate with the rest of the world, in terms of décor and organization and quality of construction of the building.

They house companies like Ernst & Young, Audi, Ogier Law Firm, DART (Camana Bay is owned by DARTgroup) and they’re also very close to Cayman International School. I then realized, that by opting for such

locations, they’re able to charge premium prices for products which don’t cost much at all because people,expect Camana Bay to be expensive and classy. People relate the location to class and haughtiness andenjoy the attention, whether they admit it or not. There are also condominiums there, which costCI1800/month (USD2200) for a 1 bedroom and there’s actually a waiting list for it.

They, the owners, cleverly took advantage of individuals in the higher income bracket’s desire and ability tospend, lining themselves with healthy food, the presence of two gyms, one Crossfit and another usual 24/7gym, close proximity to people’s work location and their children’s school and charged a premium on theproducts. I find this very smart, because people will spend for status and this shop oozes with status whilekeeping their product costs down. The higher rent will probably be covered within a week of sales everymonth, and each month, they have an additional 3 weeks to reap the profits of the location.

While the doors are closed, which can turn some people like me off, for a while, once I actually stepped inthere; I realized the place was really quite homey.

And friendly and pretty staff, always helps

To keep things slightly neutral amid the classy area, they used a very clever combination of the high ceilingsand walls, and used it as their menu board. They painted it with chalkboard colours and started writing theirdaily specials on them. They used a very vintage, New Zealand farm look in their establishment, possibly dueto the nationality of the owners.

Floors were a nice and clean, greenish tiles, they used a very strong black color to possibly give the place ashadier feel and I think they pulled it off well, because of the height of the ceiling. In the background, playssimple relaxing songs that for some reason remind me of giant fields of dandelions and sunshine whencoupled with the look of the entire place. They also manage to keep the temperature at a consistentlycomfortable temperature although I’d have to be very lucky to guess what the exact temperature is.

They have healthy treats for children, in the form of ice-pops and for the adults; they have a variety of juices.While the juices, go for an almost mind boggling CI6.50 for a glass of beet juice with ginger and lemon, thereis an almost non-stop flow of customers while I sat there for 5 hours chatting with the owners and doing mywork.

The staffs were extremely friendly and helpful, genuine and you could almost feel like they actually caredabout your life for some reason or another. This is a huge contrast, from other shops in Cayman, where themajority of the staffs are about as friendly as a back lane thug and I think people, really appreciate this.

They were quick to serve, do not at all speak in accordance to a professional script and were just humanbeings wanting to serve others. I enjoyed that greatly, from the usual script that sales people use. They makemistakes, they sound silly, I sound silly, they laugh and we all feel good about each other.

They also put plenty of very vintage looking decoration like this around the shop. They used plenty of wood tobring out a nice, warm feeling and coupled with the distinct fresh, tangerine’ish smell; you can really stay therefor hours at an end.

They also have signs made of chalkboard paint like this, which can attract the attention of passer-bys.

Though I’ve yet to interpret what the devil “Eat like a jon, look like a fox” means, and this is after crosschecking with my English, Australian and Kiwi friends, we still don’t know what it means. Must be a typo or mylack of literacy I suppose. Or perhaps it’s deliberate, to attract people’s attention to coming in and checking outthe place.

The products that they sell, are all out in the open of the counter. While this does look rather stuffy sometimes,but the lack of space in the establishment, perhaps requires this organization.

Personally, I’d rather segregate a section where I can get my cash register (they use an ipad, hidden behindthe tip box on the left) easily.

I think this shop, gets the whole package together instead of having individual parts of that hit the note, andparts that do not. I wouldn’t attribute their success to luck after the videos watched on this course but if it was,damn I better be praying to whatever they’re praying to.

While most of my observation was spent on this shop, I did go to other shops and realize a few interestingdetails. So we all agree that Apple is quite the expert in marketing products priced way beyond what they’retruly worth. Originally, marketed as the designer’s best friend, they’ve gone mainstream and attacked a hugeshare of Microsoft’s market. Their shops intrigue me a lot and I visited the Mac store, though I wasn’t allowedto take pictures inside for fear that I would steal their marketing concept and make Samsung a billion dollarsricher.

They sport a very clean finish and huge bright lights. The tables they use are very simple, keeping theattention on the products rather than the décor. At the same time, they do not neglect the décor, but bykeeping it professional and clean, it makes people feel comfortable staying there for long and making apotentially, unnecessary purchasing decision.

It seems that another shop, Books & Books has taken this cue and really brightly lighted up their premise.

If there seems to be a trend in shops that can charge a huge premium, it seems to be “Create the perceptionof class by cleanliness”.

Thank you for the great opportunity to keep our eyes and ears peeled to the surroundings. I am now muchmore observant and try to take into attention why and what people do to their shops in order to createperceived value. I believe that perceived value seems to be the keyword here.