Retail store image is an alluring yet uncrystallized concept. Part of the problem stems from the difficulty encountered by some researchers in defining image. The result has been an avoidance of definition altogether or definitions based on a variety of assumptions about the internal psychological state. In this article, the authors present an alternative approach to the image concept in which the usual assumptions about the internal state are avoided. The procedures involved in the acquisition and maintenance of retail images are outlined and implications for practitioners and academicians are indicated.