If a store is designed to frustrate me, it’s doing a bang-up job.
Too many retail spaces are built for some imaginary “average customer”,  usually a fit, 25-year-old with a smartphone glued to their hand and no mobility challenges. That’s not just lazy design; it’s bad business.

Here’s the thing: seniors have both money to spend and time to shop. But if you make it uncomfortable, confusing, or downright impossible for us to get through your store, we will do the most dangerous thing a customer can do: walk out and never come back.

Let’s take a stroll through the biggest offenders and how to fix them.

​

1. Aisles Too Narrow

Two wheelchairs should be able to pass without one of us needing to back up into a display of pickles. This isn’t NASCAR:  no one wants to “draft” behind another shopper. Widen the aisles, lose the clutter, and stop pretending that cramming in extra displays sells more. It doesn’t.

​

2. Bathrooms: A Public Health Warning

Walmart, I’m looking at you. Some of your bathrooms are so bad they should come with a hazmat suit and a signed waiver. Clean bathrooms aren’t a “perk”, they’re basic customer respect.

And while we’re in here, where are the hooks? Or the little fold-down purse shelves that used to be in every stall? They’ve vanished like they were part of a purse-smuggling ring. If they got ripped off, fix them. What are we supposed to do with our purse, our coat, or our shopping bags in the winter? Do not, I repeat, do not, suggest putting them on the floor. That’s not an option unless you want us to burn everything we own afterward.

​

3. Scooters: Stock and Maintain Them

If you offer mobility scooters, keep them charged, clean, and plentiful. Having one working scooter for an entire store isn’t service, it’s a scavenger hunt.  I know a veteran who has had to leave stores empty handed because all the scooters were broken or being used by children to race around the store.

​

4. Lighting: Can We Get a Few Bulbs?

Some stores are so dark, I half expect to see a campfire in the corner. Bad lighting isn’t “ambiance”,  it’s unsafe. Seniors need bright, even lighting to navigate, read price tags, and not trip over that abandoned floor display.

​

5. Change for Change’s Sake

Went into Aldi the other day and couldn’t find a thing. Turns out they completely rearranged the layout, without asking staff or customers. Instead of short aisles in both directions, now it’s one long aisle, forcing you to walk the entire store to find the next row. It’s like a maze designed by someone who hates efficiency. Change should improve the shopping experience, not create a scavenger hunt.

​

6. Customer Service: A Dying Art

Friendly, helpful floor staff can turn an annoying shopping trip into a pleasant one. Instead, too many stores have employees who look like you’ve ruined their day by existing. Train your staff to offer help and mean it.

​

7. Fitting Room Reality Check: Lighting, Floors, and Mirrors

If I actually looked the way your fitting room lights make me look, I’d be shopping for a doctor, not a dress. Soft, flattering lighting makes people feel good, and when people feel good, they buy.

While we’re at it, clean the floors. You want me to take off my shoes to try on pants, but the floor looks like it last saw a mop during the Nixon administration.

​

And where are the 3-way mirrors? How hard is it to give customers a full view without making them twist like a pretzel? The goal is to help us buy clothes, not send us home wondering if the back of our outfit looks like a circus tent.

​

Oh, and for heaven’s sake, give me somewhere to set my purse and coat that isn’t a balancing act on the corner of a chair. A small clean bench or a couple of sturdy hooks would do wonders.

​

8. Somewhere to Sit

A few benches scattered throughout the store are not only considerate, they keep shoppers in the store longer. More time in the store usually means more money spent.

​

9. Actual Humans at the Cash Register

Self-checkouts are fine for a few items, but if I’ve got a cart full of groceries, I want a cashier. And I want them there, not wandering the store while customers wait five minutes for them to show up.

​

10. The “Donation” Gauntlet

I came to buy toothpaste, not make moral decisions at the register. Constant prompts to donate, round up, or add a tip make customers feel pressured and awkward. Just let us pay, and if we want to donate, we will, voluntarily.

​

11. Carts That Work

Ewww, what IS that sticky mess on the cart handle?  No, really, I don’t want to know.  Clean, functional carts should be the baseline. If your carts have one wheel that spins like it’s trying to contact the spirit world, fix it.

​

Final Word

Retailers, listen up: the senior market isn’t just a “nice to have”, it’s your bread and butter. Stores that are clean, well-lit, easy to navigate, and staffed with friendly humans will keep seniors shopping, spending, and coming back. Ignore these basics, and you’re practically begging us to shop online instead.