Poor Sears. It’s not easy to find much positive press about America’s ex-largest retailer. A blog on TWICE magazine’s website kind of sums up how I feel about today’s Sears: good, affordable products and services, well-trained staff, but no design pizzazz. As a result, the blogger and I see the same thing at Sears: Sometimes there are more mannequins than customers.

The blog triggered memories of my mom dragging my brother and me to Sears for sturdy, conservative school clothes that we detested. But the stores were bustling with shoppers back then. I knew nothing about store design at that age. I do now. And I think that the uninspired design and layout of most Sears stores contributes to dearth of customers.

I mentioned a few blogs back that a multistory Crate & Barrel is being built several miles from my home. It’s walking distance from the Sears store in the same upscale mall. They even share the parking lot. Both retailers carry furniture, home accessories and kitchenware. I’ll be quite interested in seeing which store generates more foot traffic.

Then there’s Collage, a nondescript greeting-card store in an Oregon strip mall. A story in the Bend Bulletin reveals that it’s far more. Owner Tanya Murren uses the shop as a research lab to find out what’s hot and what’s not in the greeting-card industry. She’s really a card wholesaler with 60 to 70 sales reps calling on stores nationwide. But the Oregon store helps her take the pulse of the industry.

Why have I mentioned Sears and Collage in one blog? Because I think this is one instance where Goliath could learn something from David. For all its marketing muscle and (I assume) research on consumer buying habits, Sears hasn’t learned how important retail store design really is to shoppers. Murren, on the other hand, doesn’t care much about store design, but operates a store so she can find out what customers want.

Your store should be a retail research lab, too. If it’s not, it might be a Sears-in-waiting.