The new OfficeMax store in Monroeville -- a version of the chain's new prototype -- has yellow trim around the front windows, a main aisle that circles the store and shelves low enough to see over. And three round tables next to the printing center where those forced to wait can sit, drink free coffee and use free Wi-Fi.

"Why not?" asked Jennifer Rook, a public relations manager for the Naperville, Illi.-based chain. "If they're waiting on their documents, why not give them free coffee?"

In the modern era of analyzing everything about a retail operation, there's a steadily growing interest in the economics of making people more comfortable -- customers spend more if they hang around. Statistics from Green Tree work force management firm H.B. Maynard and Co. show someone who spends 40 minutes in a store is more than twice as likely to buy as someone who spends 10 minutes. And the shopper who hangs around longer buys, on average, twice as many items.

The tricky part is that people don't want to feel like they're being forced to spend even one minute more than necessary, a sentiment helping drive the growth of self-checkout, ATMs and computerized ordering at the deli as well as plastic cards that pay even without slowing down to be swiped.

So how do retailers get people to want to stay? The subtle, welcoming techniques long used by luxury stores and other service-oriented places sometimes find their way into locations that might not be expected to buy into such frivolity.

Talbots, that chain beloved of a certain type of woman with classic yet conservative and higher-end tastes, might be expected to offer the personal attention of a sales associate, by appointment, along with a light snack. Certainly a number of small clothing stores around town make it easy for loyal customers to settle in. But how about bottled water and apples from American Eagle Outfitter's new Martin + Osa division?

Keeping people hanging around is key to the strategies being implemented by Macy's, which has expanded many dressing room waiting areas. The company, which kept the dining options in the Downtown store it acquired from Kaufmann's, is reportedly now adding places to eat in several of its Florida stores.

One chain with a strategy that keeps some customers shopping a bit longer is Stein Mart. For more than two decades, the Jacksonville, Fla.-based retailer that styles itself as a department store with discount prices has hired socially networked women to work one day a week -- no more -- serving iced tea, cookies and advice in the higher-end boutique clothing department.

Jocelyn Thompson, who has the title of Boutique Leader at the company's McKnight Road store, recalled spending an hour helping one woman who hated to shop but needed something to wear to her class reunion. "They really appreciate a second opinion," she said.

The "Boutique Ladies" don't get commission but they do get a 25 percent employee discount if they work at least two days a month. The company's research shows when they are working, sales are higher, said Julia Taylor, director of Boutique and Agenda for Stein Mart. "It's just been proven that it works," she said.

That makes sense to Jeff Peretin, a vice president at H.B. Maynard who works with a number of retailers. "Even in a self-service environment, people do want a little bit of help," he said. He also would argue that retailers can justify the expense of investing in staffers who know a little bit more about what they are selling because the extra sales those people make exceeds their hourly wages.

Meghan Pfaffle of Shaler said she doesn't hang out in any store much, although her 3-year-old daughter Sarah does. When they go to the Gymboree store at Ross Park Mall, Sarah heads directly to the back corner where the store has set up a television playing videos next to three tiny, well-worn chairs.

"If more kids' stores would do that, it would be easier for moms to shop," said Ms. Pfaffle, who was keeping watch as her child romped through the mall's play area.

The closest Ms. Pfaffle may have come to hanging out with a retailer recently might have been just before Thanksgiving, when she took a free class at Williams-Sonoma on roasting and carving a turkey. A small group of women attended and afterwards the store served small helpings of a holiday dinner.

So did she actually buy anything?

"I looked and was very tempted but couldn't afford it," she said.

Although she enjoyed that dinner sample, Ms. Pfaffle's general reaction to being offered coffee or cookies in a store might explain why more chains haven't gone that route. She said she's kind of phobic about food in a retail setting since it's hard to tell who has touched the food.

At OfficeMax, munchies don't seem to be part of the welcoming strategy but seating and coffee fit the plan to warm up a chain that was part of a generation of office supply stores enamored of cavernous warehouse-style stores.

"We cater to a lot of small business customers," said Ms. Rook. Entrepreneurs, even students, often come in with things to download from a computer and have printed out. Many of them like coffee.

On a recent mid-afternoon visit to the new Monroeville store, no one was actually using the three tables and the bright, candy-colored chairs, although, just across the parking lot, several people were camped out with their computers and coffee at the freestanding Starbucks.

Ms. Rook said it's too early to report on how much java is being quaffed or how many hours of Wi-Fi used but OfficeMax is planning to expand the new model when remodeling about 100 stores this year and opening 60 new locations, including one set for a fall opening in Frazer near the Pittsburgh Mills mall.