We all see it in our shops, the product left abandoned far away from its usual location. Usually, it is a common product, nothing particularly noticeable. Sometimes, it is a personal product – and I wonder whether there is a back story to it being abandoned.
On the weekend I found a personalised Christmas bauble, for Matthew, shoved in with our men’s health and fitness magazines. I got to thinking about why Matthew was abandoned: had he been naughty and this was punishment, had the customer found something else to spend money on, had Matthew brought it down to a parent to show them?
While the future of the newsagency does not hinge on answers to these and other questions, I enjoy letting my mind wander when I see things like this. It personalises what goes on in the shop and is a factor in how I look at my time in the business.
In many ways, many times a day, people’s lives are touched – in good and bad ways , happy and sad ways – by experiences in our businesses. Thinking about this helps our connection with our own businesses. the thoughts personalise our connections with our businesses.
While I will never know the real back story of the abandoned Matthew Christmas bauble, it’s been good to think about it.