A Blooming Spring Display

One of my former clients was a local vintage / antique show.
Every three months - once per season - this event took over a local park,

filling up with 60+ vendors of vintage and vintage-inspired goods in beautiful booths, 

and drawing crowds of thousands of people over two days.

And lucky me, not only did I get to SHOP the show each season, 

but I was let loose to create a fun, fanciful, and enticing entry display!

The goal was to create an area that welcomes guests / shoppers, 

reflects the seasonal theme of the show,

and provides an opportunity for guests to snap photos of themselves & friends

as souvenirs of their happy day.
They also happen to share those photos on social media, which helps to promote the event!

In January, the spring show planning began. In February, the show producer and I 

spent a day creating huge flowers from paper for the display at the entrance to the show.

continue reading to see more...

Spring Fling

It's still cold, gray, wet, and miserable....and winter isn't about to let go yet.

But are you offering your customers a healthy dose of Spring Inspiration?

You should be!

Let me share some ideas with you to help you get started...

Pull out all the stops and bring a blooming garden into your store or showroom.
Props like grasses, flowers, natural elements like cherry blossom-bedecked branches and moss
will give your store a shot of energy - in more ways than one.

Even silk flowers added to a display bring a sense of life and movement into it...
Make 'em messy, tho! Bend the stems wildly, pull a few petals off of a tulip
and scatter them on the table beneath the vase for a realistic touch.

Products that evoke fruit, vegetables, flowers, gardens, and street markets
all do very well in spring: 

Mix up merchandise you have had a while with a few pieces of new stuff -
incorporate 'the' hot color of the season/year,
or simply colors that are associated with springtime.

Use props that tie in with spring:
terra cotta pots, a garden fence or trellis, topiaries, a wheelbarrow, or bicycles:


Whimsy, imagination, and a simple color scheme can make fast work of a new display.

Here's an easy idea for you:
Cover a table with burlap, pile up terra cotta pots, add a large silk potted tulip
and then place all white ceramic dishes & serving pieces on the pot stacks as risers.
 Create a place setting and lay a garden spade alongside it - instead of a a fork & spoon.
Place a garden trellis behind the display, in the center of your store or against a wall.

Offer tablescapes that evoke lovely afternoon luncheons and teas on a sunny day...
even if there is four feet of snow outside!
Escapism and entertainment is what shopping is all about, so give it to 'em!
Color, inspiration, and freshness are what people are looking for at this point in the year.

Get creative, put on some snappy music
(I prefer big band or classic 40's crooners, but that's just me!),
turn on ALL of the lights, and start spiffin' up.
It's a proven science that when you are working, rearranging, restyling your store,
you charge up the atmosphere with good energy -
and customers respond to that with enthusiasm!

see more spring inspo from Deb here

Have 'Leftovers' for Valentine's Day!

Restyling old products to create a new look - taking something and making it look totally different by combining it with something else, using a different color to set it off, etc. - is something I really enjoy. And it's an effective way to lengthen the 'shelf life' of merchandise instead of just putting it on clearance. Keep those profit margins UP, that's the goal.

...continue reading for some of my top tips for 're-using' and re-theming merch!

Re-Style Unsold 'Holiday' Merch for Winter Profits

So, your Holiday merchandise didn't sell like you thought it would.
No problem. No, really.... there's still hope for some of it. 
(And no, I don't mean mark it all 90 percent off!)

Let's salvage all that we can and turn it into winter displays!

for example, those ornaments above.....
silver, with red felt dots. Some others in the collection say 'Love'.

So they didn't sell....well, then let's make lemons into lemonade
and create a big red Valentine's day display!
Those ornaments could be heaped into a huge heart-shaped box,
made to look like bon bons.

continue reading for more ideas and examples of re-styled merch
that transitions from holiday to winter - and makes more profit for you!

Plan NOW for Holiday Season Success!

I know, it's October... but I'm going there.

Are there boxes of Christmas merchandise stacked and waiting for floor space?

Most of you are saying yes right about now.

Relax - you've done the easy part. But you're not done yet!

Because the hard part is that you need to have a plan ready

for how, where, when, and why those boxes of product will make it to the sales floor.

And you need that plan NOW, my friends.

Before you pull an all-nighter to set it up. Before you leave a list of 'to do's' with the staff.

Before you have the invites for your big holiday decor unveiling event printed.

(You ARE having a big unveiling event, aren't you?) Before your ads hit the media.

Retailers count on the holiday season for a large percentage of their annual income,
and it makes sense to plan for it. 

But far too many businesses just roll the stuff out on carts and start stuffing it into displays. 

Don't sabotage yourselves! 

With a bit of planning, you can reap all of the benefits of a successful Holiday season.

continue reading for my top tips for planning your holiday displays...