LINING UP FOR CUSTOMERS SNAKE METHOD IS ADDING UP FOR RETAILERS.

Byline: Barbara Correa Staff Writer

Off-price retailers like Best Buy, Nordstrom Rack and Ross Dress for Less are slowly adopting a design secret that airlines and banks have known about for years: one single, snaking line makes impatient customers feel they are being treated more fairly than if they line up behind multiple cash registers.

``Personally, I like one line,'' said Gary Bickelman, a pharmacist in West Hills out doing some last minute Christmas shopping at Best Buy, which adopted the snake line model at its stores a little more than a year ago, said Jenny Bohuslavsky, a spokeswoman for the company.

``With lots of lines you inevitably get stuck behind someone who's taking a long time. I was at Costco this morning, and it was like that ... it gets a little frustrating,'' Bickelman said.

``It looks really intimidating at first,'' said Pam Rubin, in line at the Woodland Hills Nordstrom Rack, which switched to a single line about a year ago when it remodeled its stores. ``But once you get in, it moves pretty fast.''

But does it? Actual wait times, which average from 1 1/2 to three minutes during non-holiday time, can depend on a lot of different factors, from the type of merchandise sold to how many cashiers are working to what the weather's like at the time.

What really matters to retailers - and to the bottom line - is shoppers' perception of wait times, said Craig Childress, director of prototype design research at Envirosell, a New York-based consulting firm that analyzes the interaction between people and products.

``If a person comes in the front door and they see this 2,000-foot chain they'll walk out. Especially if it's near the door,'' Childress said. ``The question is what do you want this person to see.''

Perhaps the most innovative attempt to completely hide a big scary line is on view at Fry's Electronics, which has turned its snake line into a labyrinth of what retailers call ``impulse items.''

These include everything from snacks and refrigerated sodas to CDs, DVDs and stuffed toys. Such direct marketing to captive consumers waiting in line is an old marketing technique that's still working - even on unwilling customers.

Todd Kaufman of Westlake Village was so angry about the long line at Best Buy last week that he contemplated lodging a personal complaint to the manager. Despite his outrage, he ended up making an unplanned purchase of the film ``Amelie'' on DVD while waiting in the snake at the Canoga Park Best Buy.

``When I first got in line I was thinking, man, this sucks. But it's working for Best Buy,'' Kaufman said.

Regardless of which model a store chooses for its line design, there are some basic rules, said Childress, who adds he's amazed by how frequently these guidelines are broken.

For example, he said he often will see small boutique stores place cash registers in the center of the store. Then, when lines begin to build up, they effectively form a wall, cutting off customers from half the merchandise on sale.

Another no-no is to structure a snake, or single, line directly down the center of the main aisle of a store. ``People don't feel comfortable walking through a line,'' Childress said.

Unless they aren't aware there is a line at all.

``People cut in front of you because they don't know it's one line,'' said Kim Railton, a longtime shopper at Nordstrom Rack. ``People are rude.''

Some retailers appoint line facilitators to clear up such mix-ups. But there's also a disadvantage to that. If lines begin to lengthen, customers may start questioning the intelligence of the store in assigning a worker away from a cash register.

Indeed, any line at all is too much of a line for most shoppers, especially during the final shopping days leading up to Christmas. ``The closer it gets, the more tolerance wanes,'' said Richard Giss, a retail consultant at Deloitte & Touche in Los Angeles.

There isn't much retailers can do about a lack of patience. But there is something they should keep in mind as they continue to tinker with the design of their lines. ``It's a lot easier to make the design fit the behavior than it is to change human behavior,'' Craig Childress said. ``People do what they do.''

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- color) Best Buy's snake line has customers surrounded by impulse items that many tend to add to their carts while waiting.

(2) Best Buy's snake line surrounds customers with impulse items which can add up for retailers.

Gus Ruelas/Staff Photographer

Box:

HOW THE STORES LINE UP

Daily News