If you think that what you see when you go shopping is already it, well you're wrong. A department store has key areas carefully planned to contribute to one thing only and that is sales. It's basically a labyrinth if you'll look at it. Here's a standard lay-out of a department store from Visual Dictionary Online.
You have there the receiving area where stocks delivered from suppliers are received (with certain receiving procedures) together with the loading docks for outgoing stocks. If you can see these are designed to be elevated to fit cargo vans for it to load and unload easily.
Adjacent to it is a stock room or warehouse. (A bigger room is indicated in the upper right corner). Basic principle, no stocks shall be delivered straight to the selling area. Stock rooms are not just for keeping of buffer stocks its the place for tagging (putting of price tags) or un-boxing the items.This would also be the place to check any defective or damaged items.
The lobby is the entrance of the department store, some call it too the seasonal area. In principle, the lobby should be visual point that will tell the customers please come in and shop in our store!
There is also the fitting room, where of people check if apparels fit them.
Then there's the check-out counter or simply counter. The last stop of the selling process. These is where the customers pay, their items are checked one by one, and packs it in the shopping bag.
And well of course, the majority of the area with no label is called the selling area or sales floor. This is the main area of a department store or shall we say the stage. Key principle here is that, if you have a department store you should maximize every square inch of it for selling. This will answer the question why some department stores have small bodegas, fitting rooms, counters, and even back offices. Remember these areas don't generate income.
Well, there's really more than what you see in a department store. There are still a lot of actions in the back.
