Oh don't get me wrong - I love IKEA. My husband jokes that he should have his paycheck direct deposited there. I just find that it is one of the places where the Gruen transfer effect actually works, at least for me. I go in and get into the maze (even though I could just go down to the marketplace and get what I need & leave). I definitely start to feel like I am in a trance as I go through all the displays and pretty soon I am just grabbing all sorts of random stuff.
Laura, yes, the elevator/escalator placement is one of the ways in which retailers try to use layout to influence your behavior. Just like having the clearance merchandise and dressing rooms in the back (so you have to walk though the whole store) or in the case of grocery stores, where certain products are placed on the shelf (obviously eye-level is the best which is why the cheaper products end up on the bottom) or having loss leaders like milk in the back of the store.
As you can tell, this is a topic that I find fascinating. I took a class with someone who works in marketing at one of the casinos and he was telling us that the casino spends over $800,000 on scent/fragrance technology which is placed strategically in the building to influence patrons (to relax so they gamble more etc).
A&F (and Hollister) has an interesting strategy. As far as I can tell, I think they are trying to make the parents of the teenagers that shop there so ill that they are forced to flee the store and leave their child, credit card in hand, to make their purchases alone
