Frayed

Store Analysis

The name of the store is “Frayed.” It is located at the end of Academy Street, across the highway. It is next to “Rice Kitchen” Chinese restaurant and is across the street from Dino’s Café. “Frayed” sells clothes that usually college students would wear, ages 18-25. They sell both men and women clothes. They are mostly known for their “Bang-on Custom T-shirts.” Costumers can pick out any type of t-shirt and choose any design the store has and they can make it for them.

The store has glass windows, so anyone in a car, or anyone walking from far can see what kind of clothes they sell. “Frayed” has mannequins displaying their fall clothing. It helps bring in costumers, because of the designs the clothing has and the combinations of colors. The sign that displays the name of the store is huge and has big font letters. The color of the background is black and the font is white. At the bottom of the name the words “Bang-on Custom T-shirts” is written with a red background and black, white and yellow letters.

On the inside of the store, you can see three big plasma television screens showing music videos; alternative rock and hip-hop music. There are speakers all around the store especially at the entrance so when the costumer walks in, they would hear it and get drawn more into the store. And they wouldn’t leave right away. They would take their time in shopping, because they wouldn’t want to miss the song. The music is perfect for any teenager, it is “hip” music that everyone listens to.

When the costumer walks in, the first thing they see is a table of t-shirts, which makes sense since the store is known for customizing t-shirts. They give examples of the t-shirts that display funny statements, pictures, signs(peace sign) or celebrities. Around the table, there are other tables and racks that display clothing with really nice designs and different colors. On the right of the store, women can get attracted by a section where they have all of the jewelry. On the left of the store, they have the little section where the t-shirts are made. The t-shirts are on racks and behind the counter, the designs are displayed against the wall. There are more designs in three other binders on top of the counter. There are red, fancy, stool chairs around the counter that welcomes the costumer to sit down while they look through the binders. At the back of the store, there are three fitting rooms. The doors are made out of wood, and the handle is a belt cut in half and nailed into the door in a handle shape. On the outside of the fitting rooms, there are two black leather chairs facing the doors with a table in the middle that has magazines for anyone to read while they wait for the person to come out to show off the clothes.

The floors are beige with red orange swerves around the store. It is not very smooth, but it does not really matter much because the costumers would be too distracted by the music videos and the clothes.

There are picture frames displayed young people having fun and wearing the clothes they sell. On some of the tables, there are signs that have little descriptions about the clothes on the table.

The cash register is located up front to the right of the store. The cashier asks the customer for their name to enter them into their system, because they have a raffle for shopping sprees every month. The cash register looks like a bar, it has chairs around it so the customer can sit down while the cashier is ringing up the clothes. On top of the counter, there are more accessories and gift cards.

The image the store projects is any teenager or college student can enjoy shopping at the store because of the music and the clothing is trendy. All the clothes matches with each other, they are set up in a way that anything around it can be combined with another piece of clothing.

When a customer first walks in , they go straight to the table that displays the “Bang-on t-shirts.” Then they are attracted to everything else around. I think it is hard for a customer to choose what they want because there is so much the store offers, that it is hard to choose only one or two things, or what the customer came into the store for.

I found the store “Frayed” very interesting, because many of the students at Kalamazoo College have the style of clothing that the store has. The way it is displayed is understandable but it is one of those stores that the wallet carriers wouldn’t want to walk into.