When the weather is nice, a lot of retail stores and restaurants leave their doors propped open. I’ve never asked anyone why they do this, but I imagine the idea is to make the venue look more inviting so that more customers walk inside. But does leaving a door open actually increase foot traffic and sales? I don’t know.

It’s certainly an easy experiment to try, although not entirely free of costs: an unrestricted entryway is bound to drive up air conditioning usage and let a few bugs in. I would be very curious to see how the open door compares to other tactics — especially the use of outdoor signage that ties into specific seasons and weather conditions — when it comes to increasing sales.