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. 

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! 

(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.

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.

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.

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: