ABSTRACTThe authors believe that marketing applications of the semantic differential have not sufficiently explored the potential of the standard scales developed by the initiators of the semantic differential. The current study was undertaken to test the feasibility of a standard semantic differential instrument in store image measurement. The sets of scale evaluations of five department stores by forty female subjects were subjected to principle component analyses followed by a rotation for simple structure. The separate analyses for each store suggested certain similarities in the semantic space employed by subjects to judge quite dissimilar stores. A single analysis over subjects and stores simultaneously revealed a strongevaluativefactor, apotencyfactor and anoveltyfactor, but no separateactivityfactor. These factors appear closely identified withhonesty, femininity, andnoveltyas judgmental attributes of stores. This semantic structure is regarded as highly suggestive, but its utility in an ongoing managerial framework has yet to be proven.