What’s the point of a door?

Unusually, I was asked to appear on TV last week to talk about shop doors, or rather the lack of them. The underlying thought behind the piece was that retailers using heat curtains (in the void where a door would be) at a store entrance are wasting energy and creating a temperature gradient that shoppers find uncomfortable when they step from cold outside to toasty store interior.

This may well be so, for some people, and it is perhaps no surprise that the survey that sparked this interest was by a company that claimed it could save energy (and make money, presumably).

No wish to be anti-green, we all need to do our bit, not for us, but for those who come after. But that said, there is a reason why in many instances, particularly for bigger stores, not having a door is a bit of marketing tool. Remove the obstruction of a door during trading hours and you have created another, frequently more powerful, window.

The plain fact is, that if there is no door, the first thing that the average shoppers will do is peer into the interior. There is every chance, although it is to be hoped that it doesn’t happen, that shop windows, in spite of the many blandishments on offer, may be overlooked altogether. The point about a shop window is that almost every shop has them and, with a few exceptions, they tend to be static in their appeal.

Contrast this with the entrance to a shop. If you can see in, you’ll notice people, well most of the time anyway. People are interesting and usually more so than window mannequins and so notice will be paid. This, in turn means that the store interior, from which music and an assortment of colour will emerge, will also be given the once over.

And that, in a nutshell, is why many retailers take the view that a physical door is something that will serve to diminish rather than enhance their chances of making a sale. There are, of course, exceptions and the big department stores spring to mind. These do use doors, but given that they are usually grand buildings, this should come as little surprise and they form part of an architectural whole that people will want to enjoy.

Surprising therefore, just how much thought there should be about door or no door. This may sound inconsequential, but who’s going to argue with a super-window to display their wares, if it works?