Retail Watchers

Restaurants and stores are playing increasingly loud music on purpose. Loud music makes people vacate restaurants sooner. Then the restaurant can serve more customers. Stores such as Hollister play loud music as it makes people throw more things into their shopping carts.

https://www.sfgate.com/food/article/bay ... 459785.php

You know you're in the classy neighborhood when you go to a convenience store and they're playing loud opera music outside. I've heard of various places doing that to discourage loitering, and saw it firsthand at a Refuel station here in Greensboro on Summit Avenue. Unfortunately on our last visit to that station (we were getting a pizza from the attached Little Caesar's and it took 45 minutes but the terribleness of Little Caesar's in Greensboro is another story for another post) our car's battery was drained from the wait so we had to put up with the opera for some time while we waited for a jumpstart.

This is the time of year that Christmas music is played in stores. Home Depot (for a few years now) will play Christmas music at a very loud setting on the PA system. It doesn't make me spend more, it sends me to Lowe's.

Alpha8472 wrote: ↑November 2nd, 2023, 3:51 pm Restaurants and stores are playing increasingly loud music on purpose. Loud music makes people vacate restaurants sooner. Then the restaurant can serve more customers. Stores such as Hollister play loud music as it makes people throw more things into their shopping carts.

https://www.sfgate.com/food/article/bay ... 459785.php

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I have never seen any directive regarding volume of the music at any retailer I've worked for, other than make sure the company approved MP3 device is hooked up instead of an employee cell phone or something which could potentially play something offensive. I do find that many times the overnight or early morning crew turns up the music (and changes to their own stuff). Many store chains that are heavy seasonal sellers may not even run 3rd shift except for the holiday season and thus if they forget to turn down the music then nobody's paying attention in the morning now it's sky high. I always marked the volume knob for what I found to be acceptable, I don't like shopping in stores that are creepy silent when it's slow but if I'm having to raise my voice to compete with the music then it's too loud. There is a happy place for music, usually Target gets it just right which is pretty good considering they only added it about 5 years ago. I think music is a good thing especially if selected well for the store as it can set the theme, but it can't be too loud. The sound systems in most stores were only built to be basic public address systems, so if music is played at even a normal volume it sounds terrible. Play anything with bass at a loud volume and it usually blows speakers all over the building quickly.

My local Sprouts has really loud music in the bathroom. The rest of the store is at a reasonable volume, but the bathroom is very loud. If it is a good song, it is like an 80s rock concert. Sprouts seems to play a lot of 80s music with some 90s and 2000s music as well.

My local Target remodeled about 3 years ago and at first the music was loud thumping dance music. It was like being in a dance club. There is still a Target Cafe dining room with color changing lights. It is like a disco room. The bright colors are enough to trigger seizures. The music has gone to a lower volume now.

Alpha8472 wrote: ↑November 2nd, 2023, 8:37 pm My local Sprouts has really loud music in the bathroom. The rest of the store is at a reasonable volume, but the bathroom is very loud. If it is a good song, it is like an 80s rock concert. Sprouts seems to play a lot of 80s music with some 90s and 2000s music as well.

My local Target remodeled about 3 years ago and at first the music was loud thumping dance music. It was like being in a dance club. There is still a Target Cafe dining room with color changing lights. It is like a disco room. The bright colors are enough to trigger seizures. The music has gone to a lower volume now.

I've heard of loud restroom music to discourage homeless from taking the place over.