Checkout Items

The most annoying thing to me during shopping is when I have picked everything that I want from a store and I get to the counter and the cashier tries to lure me into buying a bottle of nail polish or a tube of lip-gloss. There are so many different items and most of them aren't necessary for anyone. From the store's standpoint, I understand why, the items are things you need to sell more of and items that aren't looked at if you put them on shelves. If I were a store owner, instead of putting them at the counter, I would place them on a nice display in the front of the store, by the door, so that people notice it when they come in and maybe while they are shopping they will decide to pick something up.
Some places do have counter items that will cause people to make an impulse purchase, these are places like Winn-Dixie or gas stations where they really only put single drinks and candy. I think people that go into the store with their children will almost always make a purchase for one of the counter items because it's a way to please the children and give them a reason to 'be good.' Things that people might need while checking out might be items like travel size baby wipes, spot cleaner for a spill that happened in the car, gift cards, phone chargers, and maybe even small over-the-counter medicine bottles. I think stores should try to limit their counter items to things that people would need 'last minute' or something to get them out of a messy situation without having to walk through the whole store to find a solution.