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Top Ten Spring Cleaning Misses

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This time of year is perfect for getting your stores back into "Grand Opening" shape.  Many stores have actual spring cleaning checklists to help them get through this time.  Here are the top 10 easy misses that keep your stores from looking their best (no particular order)

1. Get a Ladder! - Light fixtures, wall units, ceiling vents etc.  Customers don't look up, and usually neither do you, which is why there is WAY more dust up there then you really want to see!!  Getting rid of this dust and keeping the vents clean can actually minimize your buildup throughout the year!  Don't forget to re-aim your lights after cleaning them!!

2. Get LOW! - Floor boards, especially in corners can get caked with grime that gets pushed against them all year while you mop. 

3. Get MOVIN'! - Move ALL the store fixtures.  Dust buildup, uncleaned spills, and sometimes it will even show how dirty the rest of the floor is!

4. The Fixtures - Rarely do the fixtures get wiped down from top to bottom. As much as they get used, this should actually be way more frequent than spring cleaning! Insider Tip - After cleaning your fixtures, wiping faceout, sidehang, and rounder bars with wax paper will make the hangars glide on the rails and also make nightly straightening a breeze!!

5. The Cashwrap - Pull EVERYTHING out, and wipe everything down.  This also gives you the opportunity to reset in a more efficient way.

6. Doors - If you are a hard worker, (which I know you are!) then you rarely use your hands to open doors!  You use your feet, boxes, rolling racks, or anything else that you are carrying.  All of those things are dirty and leave scuff marks, streaks, dirt and grime. 

7. Signage - during the hustle and bustle of the holidays, and the quick price changes that happen right after, chances are your signage could probably use a little reorganizing.

8. The Stockroom - All those things you did out front...do them in back!!  Managers desk, floors, tops of fixtures, hardware stock, cleaning supplies, etc.  I worked for a company that made their stockroom standards so high, because they would allow customers in back to "preview" the unreleased merchandise!!  I also want to note - Most importantly, a messy stock room is a HUGE safety hazard!!

9. Ledges - This is a killer!! Dust builds up on these daily!  Get your team in the habit of wiping these down with the already damp towels they used to clean mirrors.

10.  Windows - PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE show some love to your windows!! Clean the glass inside and out, top to bottom.  It is terrible when you can tell how tall the person that cleaned the windows was!!  This has always been one of my personal pet peeves. The challenge I liked to give to my employees is to ask them to walk the mall and pay special attention to the windows.  What stores would you go in based solely on the appearance of their windows?!  What things did you see that would make you keep walking?


"This is almost like show business. I mean, every day you're opening up and it's show time."  Costco CEO James Sinegal


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