Spruce Up Your Retail Store

Okay, so we’ve got the window displays popping and the staff smiling, ready to welcome the swarm of warm weather customers coming your way. But now let’s deal with the aftermath of the cold weather customers. I’m afraid that I have to mention something that strikes fear (or at least dismay) into the hearts of most folks: spring cleaning. Yes, it’s a dirty job but someone’s gotta do it. We’ve already covered cleaning to a lesser extent in “What Is Your Store Saying?” but it’s time to get down with the dirt.

Here is an interesting tidbit for you: spring cleaning is a phrase from the days when people used coal to heat their homes and oil lamps to light it up. After a season of closed windows, the walls and pretty much everything else were covered in soot and general ickiness so a good cleaning was needed once warmer weather arrived and the windows could remain open to let out the stale air and let in the fresh. Although we don’t use coal for heating any more, rooms get stuffy and dusty from being closed up during cold weather. Also, spring cleaning is a great way to give a little face lift to your store without investing in new flooring or a paint job!

Subjecting your floor to wet, muddy boots for months at a time can really take a toll on your flooring and give it a shabby look. You might want to invest in a good floor cleaner so you can clean and freshen up your floor a few times a year. Rather than buying a separate shampooer and a buffer, some machines can deep clean carpeting, scrub hard floors, and buff and clean hardwood, ceramic and marble. Neat, huh? If you only have carpeting then it’s a good idea to invest in a steam cleaner; those things can work wonders. This steam-vac carpet cleaner does not require faucet hook-up, just fill the tank with hot water and pre-measured detergent. Super easy! Of course you’ll also want to keep a vacuum and/or sweeper on hand for daily clean ups. Wait till you see how terrific the freshly cleaned floor looks after you’ve gotten used to seeing it all dingy and winterish, especially when the sunlight streams in through your clean windows.

Come on, let’s clean those windows inside and out to let that sunshine in! It is amazing how much better a bright, sunny room can look. You do not have to freshly repaint the entire store to make it look sparkling new. I have three words for you: clean, clean, clean! Yes, it’s actually one word but one word that will make a huge difference in the appearance of any store. When we see the same areas day after day, little scuffs and patches of dirt just become part of the scenery that we don’t notice…but your customers will! So, scrub-a-dub! Don’t forget to dust the tops of door frames, shelves, fixtures, pictures and moldings first; dusting last will just get dust all over everything you just cleaned. Add a gentle yet effective cleaner (we don’t want to scrub the paint off the walls) to your bucket of warm water and attack those walls, fixtures, shelves and counters with a sponge or lint-free cloth. We’re giving this store a once-over to make it ready for the busy upcoming season so let’s put our backs into it and move furniture, fixtures, racks and shelving rather than cleaning around them. Wait until you see the difference a good cleaning can make!

Okay, the inside it ready to go. What about the outside? You’ve cleaned the outside of your windows and doors so that’s covered but what about your sidewalk and parking area? Make sure you pick up any trash, glass and dead leaves lurking around and sweep that sidewalk. The outside of your store should be a reflection of what folks will find on the inside so make sure it’s clean and inviting so that people will even want to walk through your door.

Now, if you’ve incorporated everything from the last several blogs you should have colorful, eye-catching signage, organized shelves and racks, attention-grabbing window displays and a sparkling clean store. Bring on the shoppers!

Stew Speaks: Point of Purchase Displays

Editorial Comments: Stew Gershbaum is one of Specialty Store Services outside sales reps. In this entry he is discussing Point of Purchase, also known as P.O.P displays.

Our background in POP displays goes back many years when one of the founders of our company (Mal Finke) was a pioneer in retailing with one of the first big-box style discount chains in the midwest. The innovative merchandising style he created in the late 50s in these stores were a real trend setter.

We have a wide variety of merchandising systems or P.O.P displays that are truly beneficial to our clients as very often they can be created from in-stock components. The custom portion of the display really comes from the artwork! Large colorful dome signage, vertical signs, informative shelf talkers are all what drives the consumer to the merchandise. And that is what the STAR of the fixture is.

I think sometime people get caught up in over-designing a fixture and overwhelming the product. When you analyze the product lines and merchandising, I’ll think you’ll agree an awful lot of time and money is spent on incredible packaging.

Effective graphics and signage will draw the consumer to the fixture but the packaging is the clincher. Our modular wire displays can be outfitted with a tremendous assortment of retail store shelving and/or peg hooks to merchandise any products our clients wish to showcase. Most can be outfitted with h/d locking casters so the fixture location can change periodically in the store. I believe stores need to change fixture locations often to keep the consumer interested.

Getting back to POP Displays. We recently rolled out a new exciting process that allows us to PRINT full color graphics on 4′ X 8′ slat wall, Masonite. plywood,etc. This is actually a printing process not a label that sticks. It creates the most vibrant colors imaginable.

We’re currently working with two major suppliers in the adult industry to create an 8′ X 8′ area in stores using this process on slat wall to display their products. If you’d like to see a sample of this process I can send you some. Our Perf-fect perforated metal display system lends itself to exciting high-tech POP displays. Decor panels, 8 varieties of shelves, etc in a heavy duty modular platform that allows us to use magnetic base shelf talkers and signage is beginning to take off in the adult industry.

To summarize I feel that fixtures don’t have to be elaborate. The fixture should be simple and basic. The excitement comes from the signage and graphics and of course the product. The consumer will be drawn to the display. Its our job to be sure he has easy access to the merchandise in a clean and safe environment.