Spring Market Day

I spent today at the Pacific Market Center in Seattle, for the Spring Gift Show.
Lots of great new stuff, lots of spiffed-up showrooms, and a never-ending supply of treats, goodies, samples, and catalogs. The show theme is 'Catch the BUZZ', much like the winter shows (remember the bees I made for exhibitor displays?) - and the copious amounts of sugar & caffeine offered seem to work well with that.

The program included listings of special events and seminars this week, including an excerpted article by Bob Negen, and SO much more...

How about a cheat sheet on the trending color palettes for 08? Local colorist & head of the Pantone Color Institute, Leatrice Eiseman, wrote an article for the brochure.

And a column called 'The Hive' fills us all in on new showrooms in the Market and the new Bistro for food and more caffeine! Kudos to the PMC for being a resource for information & education, as well as merchandise.

We found some great stuff for the client I was with, I was able to chat with a few sales reps I know and ran into a few people who are new there but I know from other places (Hi, Sheila!). It was good to see such a positive 'vibe' in the industry again. Oh, BIG Kudos to the Barron Collection, whose music mix was beyond perfect for Monday morning mood-boosting. Details, I tell ya - details!!!!

I will be speaking at the upcoming Portland Gift & Accessories Show!

SUNDAY, JUNE 1, 2008
10:30 am to 12:00 pm
Seminar: Store Design - Tell Your Story
Speaker: Debi Ward Kennedy, Retail Designer Speaker Writer

Based on my design work with wineries in Washington State, I've created this seminar to introduce the principle of Terrior - the French concept of ' Pride of Place'. Information will focus on the individual and unique story that each independent retailer has to tell. Based on your location, your products, your customers, and your business 'personality', you can create a retail environment that tells your own story.

I'll discuss and demonstrate how to make choices & changes that will elevate your visual impact, brand image, and sales:
1. How to arrange your store, including traffic patterns, architecture, and shopping habits of your customers.
2. Planning display areas based on scale, lighting, viewpoints & perspective.
3. Making design choices to build your brand image and tell your own story: color, style, materials.
4. How to take your store’s current look and add/expand it to another style or change to keep up with the changing trends (including Eco-trends), and using what you already have in the way of props, fixtures, etc. and rethinking them to serve in a new capacity with a new look.

Resources include suppliers and suggestions for finding inexpensive fixtures & props, plus a listing of exhibitors at the show who have provided items for use in a dynamic stage display.

With the new management of the show by GLM/dmg world media, there are several changes in the seminar format. One is that seminars will take place on a stage located right in the midst of the show floor - no more back rooms hidden away! The seminars will also be free of charge to attendees, which I know many people will appreciate.

If you'll be at the Portland show, please stop by the stage on Sunday morning and introduce yourself - I'd love to meet you!

For more show information, go to http://www.portlandgift.com/

BRILLiant Ideas

My friend Steph just posted a link on our Women Take Wing! forum. Seems one of her friends forwarded it to her, and she just had to share it. I can see why! SO, now I have to share it with all of you!

"HEMA is a Dutch department store. The first store opened on November 4, 1926, in Amsterdam. Now there are 150 stores all over the Netherlands. HEMA also has stores in Belgium, Luxemburg, and Germany. In June of this year, HEMA was sold to British investment company Lion Capital.

Go to http://producten.hema.nl/ and take a look at their web page. Turn your sound up, too.You can't order anything and it's in Dutch... but just wait a couple of seconds and watch what happens!"

Seriously, this is a RIOT! Makes me want to visit their stores to see what they do there!

(It also makes a good point for using your business personality in your web design. I'm just sayin'....)

No Mickey Mouse Operation Here.....

I just returned from California (to SNOW in Seattle!!!... but I digress.....) and a trip to the Happiest Place on Earth. Most people go there to enjoy the rides and take family photos. I go there to research and watch operations in their retail shops. (I know, I'm strange!) I learn so much from Disney everytime I am there, and I love sharing those insights with you.

Rather than repeat myself, go check my post about it on my new blog, 'Diva Deb's Design Details', on the Gift & Home Channel:
http://www.giftandhomechannel.com/blog/user/DivaDeb/2008/apr/19/merchandising-on-main-street/

Shameless plug: GHC is having a contest. Start a blog in April, get a bunch of people to leave comments on it, and if you get the most comments before April 30, you win a prize. Okay, yeah, nice.
But in truth, I want GHC to have me film some podcasts for them this summer at the Farm Chicks show - all about visual merchandising & display. So if my GHC blog is getting comments, they'll be more likely to hire me. So, leave me a comment on my GHC blog! Thanks!

"Why Do When You Can OVERdo?!!!' - Sue Kirby

I just love giving deserving people a spotlight moment here on my blog!
So, say Hello to Donna... owner & proprietress of 'The Victoria Co.' in Orange, California.
Her charming packed-to-the-rafters shop is located just a few doors off of the Circle, at 146 S. Glassell Street. 714.538.7927

Yes, this IS a lot of merchandise on display outside the shop...
But wait 'till you walk in the door!

Packed full, overloaded, joyful, colorful, whimsical, energizing, and absolutely like walking onto the candy shoppe on Disneyland's Main Street (and I know, 'cause I was just there on Sunday....), this place is displaying product in a way that very very few people can do successfully. Actually, this is the only place I've ever seen this done successfully. My friend Sue Kirby always says 'Why Do When You Can OVERdo?' - and since Sue is a native OC girl like me, I think she's probably been IN Donna's store. It may have even inspired that quote!

Donna is a sweetheart - we chatted for half an hour. This is the second time I've visited her store in five years, and had the pleasure of her company to discuss her inspiring retailling practices. (Donna used to own a few businesses in the little town in Washington I now live in, so we have quite a bit to yap about.) What a generous, charming woman....her shop is truly her passion, her love, and her ministry. Donna, thank you for your sweet gift to me. And for your heart. Bless you. my dear!!!

Go see Donna, enjoy her shop, get something inspiring, and tell her DivaDeb sent you!

A Rosy Future

In five days, I will be there.
It will be warm and sunny and smell like orange blossoms. Paradise!

Her highness ^ the Queen of Shabbiness shops there. It's Mecca for antiquers and junkers, I tell ya. I've wanted to go there for years but never timed my trips to SoCal right. Until NOW! Truth be told, even tho this trip was planned around my hubby's birthday, I checked the dates for the Rose Bowl Flea first. Then I booked the tickets. ;0)

I'll be attempting to meet up with Suzi Finer of www.iamadiva.com at the flea, too...wish I could head down to DivaCentral on Melrose, but my time is limited. Really, who knows who else I might spy there?... certainly there will be lots of other gals on the hunt for the next big treasure for their shops and displays, maybe even some I 'know' from blogs & online networking. Heather? Tara? Lidy? Kim? A few celebs of the retail world!

If you have any tips, tricks, tidbits or tales of the Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market to share with me, I'd love to hear them... and yeah, I know about the 'get there really early for great stuff' tip!

Photo credits: Google image search

In The Bag

I just received an email from my mom, with these photos in it...
Funny, but REALLY creative ideas for packaging!

As I viewed them, I started thinking about the whole 'bag issue' we face today: Paper? Plastic? Cloth? Recycled? It's an argument that can't be won, really - although I personally agree with outlawing thin plastic sacks. There are many variables: cost, availability, manufacturing processes that make some paper bags as dangerous as plastic ones.

I also remembered something my friend Sher used to do: She'd buy a gorgeous paper gift bag every season, laminate it, and take it with her everywhere to use when she shopped. This was, oh, ten years ago. (She's SO ahead of the curve...)


As you look at these, can you come up with some creative shopping bag ideas for your store?
Can you use this walking advertisement to promote your mission, or share an inspirational thought? Perhaps the best way to attract attention is not to splash your store name and brand across a bag or tshirt, but to share something that expresses the essence of your purpose.

I do NOT recomend using THIS image or anything like it! But hey, what if that was a single red rose instead? Or an envelope with the words 'To My Love' written in script on it? Or a baby rattle? What do you sell? How can you feature it in a fun way?

And perhaps, contribute to making something so useful that it will be REused over and over and over again. That's the best kind of recycling...

Image credits as provided by 'anonymous' commenter:
YKM is in Istanbul, it's one of Turkey's well-known department stores
The "Nail Biter" bag is for the anti nail biting product "Stop'n'Grow”
The bag with the person's face on it is for Panadol pain reliever
The "Reach out to Children with Autism" bag promotes the efforts of the Dubai Autism Center
The gun themed bag is promoting the work of Belgium crime novelist Pieter Aspe

'Fast, Cheap & Easy' is my Mantra!

Don't get the wrong idea there, bud...I'm talking about retail display!

My theory on display is that it should be speedy, inexpensive, and uncomplicated. (Hence the 'Fast, Cheap, Easy' mantra!) If you have money to spend on it, great – but if you don’t, you can still get fabulous results from a bit of effort and a lot of imagination.

One question I hear quite often is "Where do you get props and fixtures?" I get them everywhere! From garage sales, thrift shops, and flea markets, to antique stores, furniture warehouses, and unfinished furniture manufacturers, I gather up unique and versatile pieces when I find them. That includes rusty, broken wheelbarrows on the side of the road, too! Sometimes a piece is for a specific client or project, but usually I just grab good stuff because I know sooner or later, I’ll use it.

The secret to cheap props is knowing your style – once you rule out the rustic and contemporary, and focus on the ‘shabby’ feminine look, for example, your eye can easily pick out what works best for you. By using those guidelines and your imagination, you can see possibilities quickly: The primitive wood chairs won’t work, but the wicker ones will – and you are on to the next stop. If you are thinking that this takes a lot of time, it all depends on you. Checking in at your local thrift stores and hitting garage/yard sales one half-day a month can result in huge savings and great displays. And you’ll find items that are unique – something that isn’t in every other retail store.

My eyes are constantly scanning for usable elements – at the hardware store, the craft store, IKEA. This way, when I get an idea for a display, I know where I can find the elements I need. Architectural salvage houses offer a wealth of unique large-scale items to use in displays, such as columns, doors, mantels, railings, and old gates. Many of them show their inventories online, saving you time. And making use of items that would otherwise be in a landfill is always good business. Spending a little bit of time searching for props this way will save you a whole lotta' cash, too.

Remember: "It's not called disWORK. It's called DisPLAY!" TM 2002DWK

For more retail info from me, view today's blog post 'Feeling Boxed In?' at http://www.iamadiva.com/

PS: My friend's name is Lisa, she's HOOT, and yes, guys, she IS available! (Not Fast, Cheap, & Easy, though....)