Counting Down...

It's a week before Christmas.... and all through the store, it's time to freshen and rotate your displays galore!

Take the ornaments off of the decorated trees and put them in baskets, bowls, and on platters to make shopping easier. Leave one or two main trees decorated for effect, but focus on making product accessible.

Restyle some displays by simply removing the holiday merchandise & props. The scene shown above has hot red silk fabric swags and glass ornaments in it. As shown below, taking them out makes the look crisp, clean, and ready for the New Year.

Consolidate lines that have sold down - combine them in a cross-merchandised display according to color, use, or style. And always always give your customers inspiring ideas to recreate at home: Only have six or seven of those glass ball ornaments left? Take them off the slatwall and heap them in a glass bowl on a tabletop. Just one handmade Santa left? Group him with a small tree and a heaping helping of stockings - maybe even display some great candles with them as a suggestion of a last-minute Hostess gift.

Start your markdowns on Holiday-specific merchandise. Decor, gift wrap, cards should all be on sale now to help nudge customers to buy. If you have a huge overstock of an item - a certain ornament, or card pack - you may want to consider giving away one free with a minimum purchase: "Receive a Free Gift with any twenty dollar purchase" works wonders to motivate! Just be sure the gift is commensurate with the minimum purchase requirement. And make sure you start promoting any after-Christmas sales now, so your customers can plan on coming in for them.

And one last thing: clear a space and create a display of NEW product near your entrance. Whether it's a classic line, a new design, something for Spring or home organization items (always hot after the New year!), you want to provide brand spanking new merchandise for your customers to buy with their gift certificates & cards. Don't offer them leftovers!

Photo Credits: Faded Elegance & retreat

Columbia Winery Project (or, 'Wine & Margaritas'!)

What have I been up to lately?

I've just completed the design for the Columbia Winery remodel project. It's been a few months in process, and there is always a cheer and a sigh of relief when I reach the end of a project.

When I design for a client, I create visual concepts...which means, all of the ideas and materials and specifications that are included in the design illustrate what the final product will look like. Drawings, floorplans, perspective views, detail close-ups, color swatches, style sheets, et al combine to present my vision.


I based it on the brand image of the winery, as I do all of my clients, and I also call upon my knowledge of how the staff and guests need to be able to use the facility on a day to day basis. Any other designer could draw up a floorplan or cabinet face, but since I've been working with Columbia for five years developing their brand image through visual presentation, and watching the staff activities each day, I have an advantage that Columbia is benefitting from.
There's a saying that goes 'Form Follows Function' - have you heard that one? It means that design for design's sake isn't always successful. You have to start with the purpose, and move on to the appearance. How much room do they need over here? How many ways can we use that space? Lighting has to be on dimmers for the many ways the rooms are used. It's not just picking a fabric for the chairs (which can take heavy use and hide dirt, like the carpets) and paint for the walls (which is an expression of the colors on the wine labels)!
From the design specs, an architect will develop the floorplan according to codes and such, a contractor will build that into reality, and then the painters and woodworkers and furniture makers and electricians and carpet guys will converge to add the details. And when all is said and done, I'll probably be going in to help arrange the furniture and lamps and flower arrangements and merchandise displays. I love that moment when the drawings spring to life and I can stand in the space in 3-D, and the reality is exactly what I've seen in my head for months.

That point of time is a way off, but for now, I'm done - I hand the binder filled with info and stack of catalogs over tomorrow. Then I can focus on getting ready for a trip to see my new grandson and enjoy Christmas holding sweet baby, and sippin' margaritas on the RiverWalk in San Antonio! (Not at the same time!)

ALL images Copyright 2008/9 DWK, all other use prohibited.

It Takes A Village...

I've seen countless retailers create massive village scenes with their Department 56 collectible houses... setups that span a surface the size of a pingpong table or more. And as charming and awe-inspiring as that is, it's not really the best way to inspire customres to buy more. There is a difference in showing the whole collection and in showing how to display it in a home. I don't know too many people who can spare a space or table the size of a pingpong table for the whole season...do you?!

I advocate showing people what to do with their collections. In the case of Department 56, separating it into segments is easy for anyone to do - in a retail display, or in a home.

Every year, my decorating crew and I create the holiday decor in the residence of a Microsoft Executive. The collection of Department 56 buildings is staggering, but it is made charming and inviting by separating it into two parts, and placing it in several places within the formal living room and kitchen. The first part is the old fashioned villages - Dickens, Edwardian, Victorian, etc. You can see a table behind the sofa and two bookshelves beside the fireplace that are filled with the houses set into small vignette scenes.

By using unique props with the villages, it becomes a personal expression. Beautiful wood boxes serve as bases for some of the houses, and the collection of churches sit on old family Bibles. Appropriate! The props also provide variances in levels within the display, making it much more interesting than just a flat row of houses.

Having the pieces that light up the most (conservatories, observatories, etc.) on lower shelves is twofold: the light from them brightens up this dark area, and the triple-shelf arrangement really adds sparkle to the room by bringing interest all the way to the floor.

On top of another bureau, snow-covered boxes lift a few houses up and provide the feeling of perspective. It doesn't take mountains of snow, either - just a little bit covers the boxes and lends a mood.

In the kitchen, we group all of the 'childlike' buildings...

They are shown here near the window. Santa, Rudolph, and loads of candy-themed buildings bring whimsy to the room... appropriate, because candy relates to the kitchen!

I filled some giant vases with red resin beaded garland, topped them with glass platters, and then started stacking the Department 56 houses all over. (This is a bad photo, sorry!) There are also nutcrackers (about ten from her collection of 200!) that have food themes to them, so they are included here.

My client's family can enjoy the collection in several places this way, and it never feels like it's so huge that it's out of control. (Well, except when my crew and I are boxing it all back up and trying to fit it into storage bins!) In a store, you can do the same thing. Show customers how to use these kinds of collectibles in small spaces for those who live in small homes, or with just a few pieces for those who are on a budget. You'll sell more by inspiring long-time collectors to do something new with their village scenes, and new ones to begin!

WHY?

Not an existential question, really, just an observation.

Why is it when we plan and forecast and schedule and deliberate and use deductive reasoning to make decisions, it is almost certain that something will happen by chance or serendipity that is far better than we could have ever imagined???

I had a plan this weekend, yes I did. Lots of work and designing and writing.

Then my son's baby was born two weeks early. Whatever it was that was on my calendar and 'to do' lists was quickly eclipsed by this momentous occasion. Waaaaay better than my plans, believe me!

Back with more design inspiration soon!