At Small Business Trends John Wyckoff writes about the importance of having clean bathrooms in small retail stores.

I say “hooray!” and “Yes!”

I’m not ashamed to admit it, I’m a fan of the bathroom. It’s a sanctuary for most men. Particularly with reading material in it. The article is mostly about the fact that women will refuse to shop at a store (using car dealerships as an example) if the bathrooms aren’t up to snuff, but from my perspective I feel the same way, both as a guy and a father of a young child still in diapers.

Here are my tips for small (and big!) retailers when it comes to bathrooms:

* Have reading material. Why not? Put a little magazine stand at the entrance and toss in your glossy catalogs. I’ll happily look at your wares while sitting on the toilet.

* Have paper towels. I realize that paper towels aren’t as environmentally friendly as drying your hands with hot air, but the hot air takes too long. I’ve just read about a great sale you have, I don’t want to sit there rubbing my wet hands under hot air, I want to shop! Offer both, let people pick.

* Have a changing table. They’re actually called baby changing stations and they’re not expensive. If you have the space for them, I’d highly recommend adding this to the men’s and women’s washrooms. There’s nothing more frustrating than having a kid with a poopy diaper and nowhere to change him! A few weeks ago my family went to a restaurant and had that exact dilemma. We had to change our son in the back of our car. Now, between that restaurant and the one down the street that serves equally good food at equally fair prices…which one will I pick?

* Disinfectant soap. Instead of that regular, pink goup that spews all over the place, I’d recommend adding dispensers for disinfectant soap or spray. This is the kind of stuff you can rub on without having to dry it off. You see it a lot in Toronto where they had the SARS crisis awhile ago.

Have you ever heard about the WizMark? Bathroom advertising taken to a whole new level. I’m not quite sure I can recommend this to anyone, but you can have a look yourself.

In the meantime, what this is really all about is businesses taking care of their customers. Clean bathrooms boils down to good customer service. ‘Nuff said, I have to use the loo.

[tags]customer service, respecting clients, business, clean washrooms[/tags]