Case study 01 · Self-initiated service study
Both Sides of the Counter
Two years inside a souvenir shop at one of Berlin’s main landmarks, seen through a service designer’s eyes.
My role
Sales associate and participant observer
Duration
More than two years
Methods
Participant observation, journey mapping, service blueprint
Context
Tourist retail, Berlin
Why this project
I came to Berlin to study design. While looking for work in my field, I took a job in a souvenir shop at one of the city’s main landmarks. It was meant to last a few months. I stayed for more than two years.
I did the job fully, and I kept observing: how customers moved, what they asked, where the team got stuck, and why.
The shop sold well. From the inside, it felt different. The team was stretched, the same problems kept repeating, and the care customers came for depended on who still had energy left.
How might we
How might a busy tourist shop protect the human care customers come for, by easing the backstage work that wears its team down?
Approach
How I studied it
More than two years
Participant observation
Early, middle and late shifts. Watching customers, colleagues and my own routines, and testing small changes in the shop.
After six months
Reflective paper
An academic analysis of teamwork in the shop, written during my Master’s. Notes from the time, not memory alone.
Afterwards
Retrospective mapping
Customer archetypes, a customer journey, an employee journey and a service blueprint, built from both sources.
Seen from inside the team, but I was not the customer: I based the customer side on what visitors did and asked, not on my own guesses. No formal interviews or sales data. The company is not named and no internal details are shared.
The customers
They arrived in waves
Visitors often came in groups, straight after visiting the landmark. A quiet shop could fill in minutes.
Archetype 01
The group wave
School classes and tour groups. Want something to remember the trip, quickly, on a small budget. Everyone asks at once.
Archetype 02
The cultural visitor
German visitors on a museum and landmark day. Want a meaningful gift with a real connection to Berlin. Ask where things come from.
Archetype 03
The international tourist
One stop on a city route. Wants a memorable gift with “Berlin” on it, something you can only find here. Asks about deals, prices and anything about Berlin.
Customer journey
A short journey, full of questions
Fun fact from the field
Once, a customer asked if we sold fridge magnets. In a shop full of fridge magnets.
Funny, but also data: even with signs everywhere, people ask. Asking is part of the experience.
Employee journey
The heaviest work sat at the edges of the day
Early, middle and late shifts shown as one day. The early and late shifts carried the hardest tasks, usually alone.
Service blueprint
The backstage was eating the frontstage
Customers came for a conversation and a story. Every problem behind the scenes took a little of that care away.
Insights
What I learned working in the shop
01
Built for a steady flow, hit by waves
Staffing, stock and the queue assumed a calm, even day. Visitor groups broke all three at once.
02
The hardest work fell on one person
Opening and closing combined setup, deliveries, ordering and customers, often with nobody else in the shop.
03
Ordering was manual
Orders came from a paper book, checked by hand. Nothing reordered itself, so items were ordered twice, forgotten, or ran out. Common in small German retail, where new technology is adopted slowly.
04
No shared rules
There was no proper onboarding, and checklists came later, only for new staff. So tasks, breaks and standards changed depending on who was working.
05 · Key insight
Questions are not a signage problem
The signs were there, and people still asked. Travellers want a human answer and a story. The conversation is the experience.
06
Care and ideas went unseen
Success was measured in sales, not care. Ideas from shop staff had no clear way to reach decision makers.
In the shop
What I tried while working there
I wasn’t only observing. Every shift was a chance to test small changes and see what worked, for customers and for the shop.
01
Learning by observing
With no formal onboarding, I watched how colleagues worked, tried their methods and kept what worked. Small experiments, every shift.
02
The bag discount
A small discount on a bag almost always got a yes and closed the sale. A win for the customer and for the shop.
03
Moving slow products
When a product wasn’t selling, I suggested better places to display it so people would notice it. When we tried it, it worked.
04
Answering with care
Saying sorry when something went wrong, answering the same question as if for the first time, helping even when there was no sale. People noticed.
Recommendations
Free the team to give the care
Take load off the backstage, so staff have the time, knowledge and energy for the conversations customers come for.
Now
Quick wins
A second person at opening and closing in busy seasons
Breaks planned in the schedule
Shift checklists as a shared standard for the whole team
A product story sheet for staff: origin, the Berlin Wall pieces, the deal
Next
Plan around the waves
Plan staffing and restocking around predictable visitor waves
Restock zones with clear owners
A short monthly meeting where shop staff share what they notice with managers
Later
Change the system
A shared digital stock and ordering system
Fewer products and a clearer store layout
Recognition for care, not only for sales
How I’d measure success
Staff satisfaction
A short check-in survey every few months
Punctuality and absence
Are people arriving on time and staying well?
Sales per shift
Does a calmer team sell more?
Staff turnover
In the long term, do people stay?
What I would not do: add more signs. They were already there, and people still asked, because the conversation is part of the experience.
Reflection
It was never about the magnet. It was about the experience.
On a trip, what stays with you is the moment: a friendly answer, a story about the Berlin Wall, someone who made you feel welcome. The magnet is just how you carry that journey home.
What it taught me
I used to tell my colleagues: my thesis is about employee experience, and here I am seeing it from the other side every day.
In the design world, service design often stays with agencies and big organisations. An ordinary shop, full of real skill in buying, merchandising and running a business, rarely gets that lens.
This job taught me that the most valuable insights are often right in front of us, in everyday places, with everyday people. We see them, but we rarely stop to talk about them. We just have to look, and not ignore.
As an immigrant starting out in Berlin, I didn’t really choose this job. It chose me. But my designer side never switched off, and it showed me what service design is for.
What I bring from this to every project
Any experience with people on both sides works the same way. When the backstage is overloaded, users feel it. So I always research both sides, and look for what’s missing and where to start.