floor sales

Instead, customers drawn in by the display windows are directed to escalators leading up to second and third floor sales areas many times larger than the modest storefront at street level.

Detractors criticize Au Printemps' management for placing too much emphasis on high-priced goods, and sources outside the company say fashion floor sales for the first six months of the renovation were weak.

Traditional retailers can point to the Internet and know that their Web sites are helping to create sales in their stores - and to reduce customers' dependence on floor sales help - even if the Web sites are not pumping tremendous amounts of cash.

In a 2004 lawsuit González v. Abercrombie & Fitch, the company was accused of discriminating against African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, and women by preferentially offering floor sales positions (called Brand Representatives or Models) and store management positions to Caucasian males.