Comments on: Some thoughts on organizing your Children’s Section

By: Judy Riggs

Judy Riggs — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 20:55:11 +0000

I believe that our store is the one you dreamed of!!

By: M.L. Forrester

M.L. Forrester — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 16:09:05 +0000

Great advice from both Dana and Nora. We have done much the same things in our Children’s section, along with tiny chairs in the same aisle (we ousted the tables, took-up too much room). While we also have an “Animals” section, we don’t try to sub-divide it as finely as Nora does. For the youngest readers, we have separate sections for the Disney, Richard Scarry, Rugrats, etc. series books, as well as a childrens “honor book” section, for the adults who request those.

For the ‘older youngsters’, we separate our stock into adventure/sci-fi & fantasy/classics/”spookies” (where the Goosebumps and other kids’ghost story series are kept together.

One other thing, we also have separated a sizeable portion of the children’s books into “reading levels”; which is more for the adults who select a variety of books by age or school grade levels for their children or grandchildren.

Although some children select their own books, most of our sales for the younger sets are to parents and grandparents. So, we cater to the shelf organizations they prefer. Asking your customers their preferences will soon tell you how to best organize your store.

By: Nora

Nora — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 16:02:29 +0000

This is more or less the set up I have here, minus the table. No room! It’s been replaced with a small basket of kids toys tucked in a corner for the ones that are too little to pick their own books and would much rather shake those maracas or stack some blocks then pick a book. It keeps the 3 and under set entertained by something other than pulling books off the shelves which the older kids or Mom look at books.

I only have four subject based divisions because they’re how parents ask for things. I have the nonfiction separated from the fiction. In the fiction I have the scifi/fantasy/horror separated from the general fiction. And then I have the animals in their own section, with that subdivided into ponies, puppies, kittens, and everything else. It makes it soooooooooooooooo much easier when a parent comes in and goes “my child is crazy for horse, show me the horse books.”

I have the huge series and Golden books pulled out on their own as well.