There will be no surprises among your best customers when changes are made. Even if you haven't followed their advice, customers will feel better for having been asked. You've provided another opportunity to talk to your customers and generate loyalty. The smarter newspaper management has been pretty good at asking readers and advertisers what they need. They can't always comply, but they find, for example, that if stories are continued, they ought to be on the very next page, not jumped all over the place, and inserts and half-pages are annoying.
Any business can learn rapidly and accurately from asking the customer.
Ask sales clerks and cashiers to mention changes informally and gauge customer reaction. Use a brief survey form at checkout or buying points, but make it very brief and have it completed on the spot. Offer to raffle off a prize or store credit for a form chosen at random every day. In your bills and other customer mailings, insert a brief survey form with a dollar bill or inexpensive store credit and a paid return envelope. There's no use worrying about proposed changes as if you are in a vacuum without feedback or assistance.