A longer line for a shorter wait

We are currently working on two green retail stores, so the subject of waiting in line is something I have been thinking about a great deal lately.

Whole Foods has been experimenting with a new strategy for dealing with long line waits.

Their concept: the longer the line, the shorter the wait.

In it's New York stores, customers form a serpentine single line that feeds into an array of cash registers.

Banks have used a similar system for decades. But supermarkets, fearing a long line will scare off shoppers, have generally favored the one-line-per-register system.