Archive for the ‘Holiday Windows’ Category

Holiday store display ideas 2011

Wednesday, November 30th, 2011

In fashion, you hear about wardrobe staples or must-haves in your closet. In retail, there are a number of such visual merchandising essentials. I’d like to add red and white striped ANYTHING to the list. Case in point: this holiday display at Little Paper Lane in Mona Vale, Australia.

The red and white striped bowls fit nicely into this Christmas display, but can also be used for Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, nautical displays and whimsical displays with a cartoon or circus theme. In the US, they would be brought out for 4th of July, Memorial Day and various other patriotic celebrations. Can you think of other versatile display staples?

Holiday gift idea windows for…

…girls (above) and for boys (below). Both pictures are from Fiddlesticks in San Francisco, CA, and are fun examples of December store windows without traditional holiday color schemes.

Music for your eyes!

My favorite part of this display are the music books used as place mats, but if you look closely you will see a number of unique display element examples. HiHo Home Market in Gardiner, NY has been featured in the blog before and we always look forward to what the HiHo elves come up with for the holidays!

Where do you get your display inspirations?

Many of the display ideas that I share on the blog and on the Retail Details blog facebook page, come from catalogs and websites of vendors. This charming display idea comes from the Kringle Candle Company. Staged for a photo shoot, a few simple props set the tone for a cozy display.

Bold shapes and letters catch the attention of the passersby at Roost in Salem, MA. Good lighting adds to the effectiveness of displays. I recommend checking your window lighting during the day and at night.

Planning ahead: If you are attending the gift show in Atlanta in January 2012 and would like to schedule a consultation or display tour, please email Becky at SwirlMarketing@comcast.net

Retail Details blog, Becky Tyre, Swirl Marketing~Becky

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Becky Tyre is a visual merchandising consultant and the owner of the Retail Details blog at SwirlMarketing.com . Becky is the Trends Editor at GIFT SHOP Magazine. You can also join Becky for discussions about trends in retail, products and displays as one of the contributors on the GIFT SHOP Magazine facebook page.

Retail Details celebrates display props. Cheers!

Monday, October 25th, 2010

NOTE: Click here or go to “Display Contest” under PAGES in the sidebar of this blog  to read about the Retail Details Store Display Contest. We are still accepting entries through the end of November.

Loopy Mango, Retail Details blog, store display, display propsThere’s an eclectic little shop on Grand Street in New York City and they are quite well known for their interesting store display props. Loopy Mango  is a lifestyle and accessories boutique in SoHo which features a curated collection and ranges from designer and vintage clothing, shoes and jewelry to antiques, home goods and furniture. Here’s a picture of one of their recent store windows (below) that confirms my decision to bump this shop up on my “must see” list for my next visit to the city. The motorcycle is fun, but I love the irony of the bunny in the basket and the bird (pillow) in the cage. I can’t wait to visit the nearly 2000 square feet of pure loopiness.

Loopy Mango, Retail Details blog, 10-25-10

If you read this blog regularly, you know that I have been on a quest to visit shopping areas that consist of indy-owned businesses. I found such an area in Dallas and it’s called the Bishop Arts District. Located just a few miles from downtown, the area consists of several blocks, which the nearly 50 local merchants call “the BAD”. Since I am always on the lookout for unique displays, I would be remiss not to mention one of the stores I visited there, whose displays were outstanding: 

Indigo 1745, Retail Details blog, 10-25-10Indigo 1745 is a men’s and women’s boutique, specializing in premium denim and sportswear. Owner, Denise Manoy credits her husband with most of the visual merchandising ideas and creations, including the store name letters on the wall, as pictured here. If you look closely, the letters are made from frames, tiles, wood and foam core and adorned with textures of lace, paint and denim.

Poppy Arts, Retail Details blog, 10-25-10Is your packaging part of your holiday visual merchandising plan? Poppy Arts, in Columbia, MO, used their boxes as part of this window display. They added black ribbons and red poppies, along with their logo sticker on plain kraft boxes. The box bottoms serve as jewelry displays. Poppy began as a small, specialty art gallery and now represents over 200 artists.  

Rebekah Brooks store, Retail Details blog 10-25-10Red birds and holly berries, with a little bit of greenery, creates a holiday feel on these display shelves at the Rebekah Brooks  retail store in Northampton, MA. The shop sells handcrafted jewelry made in their studio in Western Massachusetts and they also sell unique gifts. Shown here are before and after pictures to exhibit how effective a few small, simple props can be.

NEWS: It is with great excitement that I announce that I have taken a job as a prop shopper for a new company called The Display Lab, opening soon. Nothing will change here at the Retail Details blog. I’ll still be writing, editing and choosing the pictures for Retail Details. I will continue to handle most of the social media and correspondence, but I will have help with some marketing and blog advertisers (two of the top sidebar ad spots are available, by the way). 

Join the visual merchandising conversations with the Retail Details blog on Facebook and Twitter, too.

You can submit your store display pictures to be considered for blog inclusion or email me at SwirlMarketing@Comcast.net

Stay display inspired!

Retail Details blog, Becky Tyre, Swirl Marketing~Becky

Taming the Tulle and Inspired Store Displays

Thursday, May 27th, 2010
Alice Supply Co. - Retail Details blog 5-27-10

Alice Supply Company

It takes alot to get from my blog photo files to my pinboard. After all, my job is to look at hundreds of pictures everyday. I reserve one side of my pinboard for WOW pictures and the other for items that inspire store display ideas. This mannequin picture has been on the WOW side for weeks. Taken at the New York Int’l Gift Fair, it’s from the Alice Supply Company booth.  The products, which include common household items that have been given a personality, are cute, fun and colorful and generally easy to show. This display takes it to the next level by creating a top out of a garden hose and a skirt of dust pans. Once again, trade shows prove to be a great place for visual merchandising ideas. 

Vintage, antique and thrift stores have a selection of salt and pepper shakers. Unless you are a collector, you probably seldom notice them.  

Retail Details blog, Relish, store display

RELISH - Healdsburg, CA

That’s about to change! At Relish in Healdsburg, CA, the bottles are filled with pearls, sparkly star beads and shiny buttons. Elegant. Inspired. Upcycled. They even come with printed “pearls of wisdom”. 

Retail Details blog, Swiss Flower and Gift, store display

Swiss Flower and Gift Cottage - Wheat Ridge, CO

Floral shops have the luxury of having beautiful merchandise that essentially becomes it’s own display. You may think that merchandising in a floral shop is easy, but it has it’s challenges. For instance, how to display boutonnieres and corsages, other than in those clear “take-out” type boxes.  At Swiss Flower and Gift Cottage, in Wheat Ridge, CO, they utilize a few props. Problem solved! 

Retail Details blog, Cupcake, Petit Lavish, store display

(Left) Lavish - Crested Butte, CO and (Right)Cupcake - Santa Rosa, CA

Tutus. Now here’s a fashion trend that I did not see coming. But, it’s here and they are a mess… to display, that is. I found these pictures of two displays that seem to tame the tulle. Lavish in Crested Butte, CO, features one skirt on a hanger and rolls the others, neatly hanging them on what could easily be a towel rack. On the right, a quilt rack seems to be the ideal size to become a designated tutu fixture at Cupcake in Santa Rosa, CA.

Retail Details blog, Green Oak Antiques, Rochester, store display

Green Oak Antiques - Rochester, IN

When Green Oak Antiques, of Rochester, Indiana, received a large shipment of  a new line of plaques, they didn’t want to place them in a cabinet or on a busy wall. They had a bunch of fence pieces, already painted white, so they nailed them to the wall, placed a bench below and voila  a feature display!

Pantone’s color of the year for 2010 is turquoise. Stark white display pieces are ideal to spotlight this color in a spring window display.

Retail Details blog, Lilac Bijoux, store display

Lilac Bijoux - Annapolis, MD

For these store windows, above, the ladies at Lilac Bijoux in Annapolis, MD, chose clothing with the turquoise color in common. They added accessories that match and suspended large paper flowers to complete the spring motif.

Retail Details blog, Sabella Couture, store display

Sabella Couture - Boston, MA

Ideally, your store windows also look good from the inside of your shop. This is not so easy to do. If you have a backdrop, you can create an additional in-store display on the back of it. When you don’t have a backdrop, you may choose props that are two-sided or round help to create an attractive interior display. Sabella Couture, in Boston, MA, uses paper lanterns, parasols and flowers to achieve this.

Inspiration display of the week:

Retail Details blog, Bits & Pieces, Richmond, store displays
Bits & Pieces Boutique – Richmond, VA

These two window displays were from last fall and holiday season at Bits & Pieces Boutique in Richmond, VA. When looking for display props, it helps to plan ahead in case you need to locate and assemble items into displays as creative as these mannequins with chandeliers on their heads.  I particularly like the gourds that almost look like flames in the fall picture on the left. Such lighting fixtures are not hard to find, especially since you do not need them to actually work. With a little spray paint and some decorative crystals, you could create similar chandeliers to fit most any theme. The trick to successful prop shopping is to plan ahead and to always be looking for display pieces, wherever you go.

Next month, I’ll be prop shopping with some retailers at the Dallas Total Home & Gift show.  I’m sure I’ll have lots of ideas to share on the blog. I hope the Retail Details blog inspires you to create great displays. Thanks to all the retailers and showrooms who continue to send me so many display pictures to share.

Stay display inspired!

Retail Details blog, Becky Tyre, Swirl Marketing~Becky

Click “comments“, below, to leave a message about the blog or email me: SwirlMarketing(at)Comcast.net  This is the email to submit pictures for blog consideration, as well. You can also visit the Retail Details Facebook Page.

I (almost) hope you are too busy to read this retail display blog.

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009
Sugarplum Kids - Alpharetta & Duluth, GA

Sugarplum Kids - Alpharetta & Duluth, GA

As we start the busy Holiday retail season, I thought I’d feature a few especially nice displays. I’ll start with the cutest OPEN sign ever! Sugarplum Kids, with locations in Alpharetta and Duluth, Georgia sells designer clothing for babies and kids, but they chose a onesie to use as their OPEN sign. What a clever way to showcase their product. And, no, I didn’t ask them if it says CLOSED on the backside.

Swagger Gifts - Cary, NC

Swagger Gifts - Cary, NC

I like versatile displays and efficient usage of space, so I applaud the way Swagger Gifts, of Cary, North Carolina, stacked their tables for this Christmas display. Anytime you can build your display upward, it increases the merchandise per square foot ratio in your store. I am a big fan of tiered tables and these classic white, coordinated - but not matching - tables stack up nicely in this pretty shop.

 

 

 

Tracy b - New Haven, CT

Tracy b - New Haven, CT

Look closely and you will see that the hanging props in this store window are made from rolled up newspaper and joined with ornaments in the center to create decorative bursts. This winter wonderland window is at Tracy b  in New Haven, CT. I am sure that it could be made into a year-round concept by rolling up colorful pages from magazines and using spring flowers in the center.

 

 

 

 

 Chicky Bella in Chandler, Arizona, uses a glass dome pedestal pastry
Chicky Bella - Chandler, AZ

Chicky Bella - Chandler, AZ

plate to feature a couple of hats.

Love it!

Enough said.

 

 

 

 

Shoefly and Sox - Ukiah, CA

Shoefly and Sox - Ukiah, CA

This next display is a shoe table at Shoefly and Sox in Ukiah, CA. It’s a great layout with just the right amount of display props. Suitcases are one of my favorite props for most any type of store. I will be featuring more suitcase display ideas in upcoming blogs, but I think this one is especially nice.

Salutations Home - Pasadena, CA

Salutations Home - Pasadena, CA

I hope that your stores are busy for the holidays and that you also find some time for family and friends. When you do, I hope you sit at a table as lovely as this one displayed at Salutations Home in Pasadena, CA.

Thanks for taking a few minutes to read my blog. Keep sending in your display pictures and ideas. You can click COMMENT, below, to join in the conversation, but please do so at the bottom of this blog post, not the bottom of the page. As always, feel free to forward this blog to your friends and colleagues. You can join the RETAIL DETAILS page on Facebook to get early notification of new blog posts. Special thanks to Nashville Wraps who recently joined the blog as a sponsor.

Swirl Girl, Swirl Marketing, Becky Tyre~Becky