Vitamin Shoppe Across From Lloyd Center

As you know, I walk around the Lloyd District, stop at Dollar Tree occasionally for a Dr. Pepper, sit in the walkway across from the Lloyd Center and basically…

…think.

I know that LA Fitness shares the building with Dollar Tree and I know Pier 1 and Wells Fargo are in the building across the way.

What I didn’t know is that almost directly across from the Halsey entrance to the Lloyd Center and Dollar Tree is the entrance to The Vitamin Shoppe.

The Vitamin Shoppe is there.  It’s just invisible.  I thought it must have been just me, so I asked my wife about it.  She didn’t know The Vitamin Shoppe was there, either.

There is no sign for The Vitamin Shoppe on Weidler (that I could see) and none on the parking lot side of the building (that I could see).

There is a sign on the side of the building that parallels Halsey, but Halsey isn’t really busy and at that point, driver’s eyes are on the clearly painted crosswalk that actually crosses the street, not on buildings beside it.   Since the crosswalk leaves the Lloyd Center, pedestrians appear at any moment.  Since there  is no light, drivers pay attention.

Speaking of pedestrians, part of the problem probably lies with the closed escalator.  Pedestrian’s eyes are drawn toward the escalator because it is something unusual – drawn away from the Vitamin Shoppe.  Then they are watching for cars as they cross the street (on the aforementioned crosswalk) to the Lloyd Center.

Partly, I think it is The Vitamin Shoppe’s own fault, too.  One window on the walkway has only the face of a beautiful woman smiling while she smells a flower.  While that may be a great picture, it does nothing to brand The Vitamin Shoppe nor does it do anything to get customers inside the store (I’m not part of their marketing staff, obviously).

On the other side of the window are shelves with (presumably) vitamins.

Maybe the signage is higher than most people regularly look.

The Vitamin Shoppe must make money at that location, but I don’t see how.  Just a couple of changes should multiply their sales – or maybe customers always find The Vitamin Shoppe in the yellow pages or on the internet.  But then, the store wouldn’t need a walk-in location…