Sometimes when I go to the store after a busy weekend, it looks as though just about everything in the store has been put off kilter by half an inch. As though a troop of elves have spent all night industriously setting everything askew.

The elves are the general public. During the week, the bulk of my business is with regulars, who more or less know what they want and where to get it. During the weekends and holidays, we get a bigger crowd.

Half inch? Big deal, right? But I have a theory that the more orderly things are, the more people will try to keep things orderly; the more disorganized things are, the more disorganized they will get. People pick up the subtle signals that you care how things look. Like a new car without a single dent being treated with more respect than an old clunker.

There are very few stores out there that have as many small items packed into as small a space. I've learned that the more material I have in the store, the better my sales, and at the same time, the space has become more valuable. I've packed every inch with product, floor to ceiling.

But I've also made a real effort to try to keep it from looking too cluttered and messy. This means I need my displays to be as ordered and straight as I can make them. Not so much for the customer, though that's a bonus, but for me -- because the straighter things are, the less work I'll have to do later.

It's always been hard to get this through to my employees. Going around and putting things back, half an inch, seems like make-work to them. But the store is already visually overwhelming; having things just slightly off makes it look much, much worse.

I just spent two hours at the store, going from one end to the other, trying to get it all put back together. If I don't, it could all get out of control.