To trigger positive consumer responses, retailers spend large sums of money on arousing and entertaining store environment designs that do not always produce the desired positive consumer reactions. The current research provides a theoretical framework that offers an alternate explanation for shopper preferences regarding retail environments. Drawing on consumers' need for an environment that promotes understanding, this study indicates the importance of communicating a coherent store environment to effect store satisfaction and re‐patronage intention. Harmonious store environments facilitate understanding and comprehension; they enhance information processing and pleasure judgment. One laboratory experiment and one field experiment tested the proposed research framework. Insights from evolutionary and aesthetic psychology, consumer behavior research, and the Asian practice of Feng Shui all guided the manipulation of music and aesthetic design variables to create atmospheric harmony. The findings of both studies suggest that harmonious store environments increase pleasure and positively impact shopping satisfaction and re‐patronage intent, as mediated by shopping value. These findings offer a new perspective for creating pleasant store environments. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.