Normally in this column I dispense highly-intelligent small Business advice in response to thought-provoking questions submitted by future and fellow entrepreneurs. This week, however, I have a couple of questions for myself, one of which makes me wonder how truly intelligent I really am.

Q: Dear Me, I recently took my teenage daughter shopping at the mall. The experience raised two questions. (1) What Business lessons might be learned from such a foray into teen commerce; and (2) What the heck was I thinking? -- Sincerely, Me

A: Dear Me, great questions! Let me answer them in reverse order since the second question is probably the one causing you the most concern.

What was I thinking? Only the good Lord knows. I vaguely recall complaining that my fifteen-year-old daughter, who we'll call "Chelsea" (because that's her name), didn't spend enough time with her dear old dad anymore. It's a complaint that every dad of a teenage girl formerly known as "my baby" has made at one time or another. I also recall my insightful wife telling me that if I wanted to spend time with Chelsea now that she was a teenager I would have to do it in her element, which happens to be any large structure with the word "Mall" on the side. A fitting analogy would be that if you want to spend time with a moody tiger you have to go into the jungle to do it.

No offense to my mall merchant brothers and sisters, but a trip into the deepest jungle is more appealing to me than a trip to the mall. I get no joy out of trudging from store to store, attempting to communicate with salespeople from other planets, browsing discount racks of last season's dollar merchandise and peering into windows at mannequins that seem to be in some sort of inanimate pain (why can't they make a happy mannequin?).

Bottom line: I'm a guy. It is programmed deep within my genetic code to hold such things in high disregard. But so strong is my love for my daughter that I pushed my true feelings aside and off we went to the mall last Saturday morning. I called it, "Driving the green mile?"

I was perfectly fine walking through Sears (a real man's store). I held my own when we cruised through Spencer's Gifts (I found the Ozzy Osborne bobble-head doll to be quite life-like). But when we walked into one of those stores that specialize in clothing and accessories for the younger generation my psyche all but shutdown. Within minutes I found myself standing at the back of the store holding my daughter's purse while she tried on small swatches of material that the store was trying to pass off as clothing. It was there, standing among the mopey mannequins and teeny-tiny underwear and designer nose rings, that I realized I was witnessing good old American commerce at work.

This leads us back to the first question: are there Business lessons to be learned from a trip to the mall? As the young folks would say, "Dude, definitely!"

The following observations can be applied to most Businesses, not just to retailers that cater to Generation Why.

Know Thy Customer Well Not just from a demographic standpoint, but up close and personal. Even from my limited vantage point behind the rack of neon tube tops it was easy to identify the store's typical customer: young, hip females; ages mid-teens to mid-twenties. They wandered through in groups of twos and threes. I suppose that going to the restroom in public and shopping are the two things females must do in groups. It makes perfect sense when you realize that for teenage girls (and many grown women, I'm told) shopping is a social activity, an excursion to be taken with friends. The smart retailers know this and design their stores to be as much a social hot spot as a retail establishment. From the hip/cool music blaring from the overhead speakers to the hip/cool young sales dudes to the hip/cool posters on the walls to the hip/cool selection of merchandise, this store was a teenage girl's retail heaven on earth.

Target Your Product To A Growing Customer Base Teens represent one of the fastest-growing segments of the consumer population, registering a grow

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