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Today everyone has multiple storefronts. There's your catalog cover, your Web site home page, and, if you're a brick-and-mortar retailer, your physical, real-world storefront.

What does your storefront say about you? Is it inviting? Does it give a first-time shopper an accurate idea of what your brand represents?

I decided to visit the new wing of the Natick Collection to see what the storefronts of some of the latest tenants said to me. The Collection is an upscale expansion of an existing mall, where a number of high-end retailers make their suburban Massachusetts debut.

My first stop was Ruehl. I have to say, the last time I was this disoriented during a shopping trip was when I wandered into the old Sanrio/Hello Kitty store in San Francisco while severely jet-lagged.

The store is dark and moody, full of small rooms and twisting corners, with ominous corridors that lead into more small rooms and twisting corners. I nearly bumped into walls several times just trying to find my way out.

The clothing mix appeared to target young adults. I popped onto Ruehl.com to find out more about the brand (an Abercrombie & Fitch spin-off, I discovered on Google). And I learned…not much. The home page has a large black-and-white photo of a naked young couple smooching, and there are links to store listings (with no specifics about hours or events — just city/state locales) and the chance to sign up for an e-mail list. The privacy policy was amusing — unreadable gray text on a black background, keeping it virtually private from the reader.

A stark contrast was found a few stores down at Lululemon Athletica, which sells pretty much the range of items you'd expect in a bright storefront. Online (lululemon.com), its presence is pretty much the same, energetic and perky.

The look of The Art of Shaving (theartofshaving.com) both online and off struck me as, well, clean-shaven. The storefront was sparse, simple and elegant, appropriate since they're trying to add civility and high-end flair to an everyday task.

One of the last new brands I visited was Metropark, which uses the tagline “Fashion. Music. Art.” On this Sunday afternoon, a live DJ was spinning tunes in the store, which could have been hip-hop, or funk, or alt rock, or maybe a mix. (I dunno anymore. I'm old.)

While most of the clientele in the shop was less — ahem — mature than I, the polite and helpful (but not overbearing) sales clerks made me feel welcome. Because of this, I did spend a lot more time browsing and exploring the store than I probably would have otherwise.

The Web site (metroparkusa.com) has the same inviting vibe, with a Metropark Radio widget users can click on to hear the music playing in the store.

Next time you're looking at your storefront, listen up. What does it say to you?