Furnishing Your Store
I’ve spent much of my careet providing Affordable Design Solutions for companies in the home furnishings industry, but I really got my start in the fashion industry
My background and career began with hometown runway modeling, window displays, boutonnières and even funeral sprays, before I started doing retail store design for the home trade. I have done it all.
Along the way, I borrowed ideas from the fashion business and applied them to home furnishings. Long ago I introduced mannequins – the cool, funky types – often fashionably dressed but other times draped with upholstery fabrics to coordinate with a furniture collection that would otherwise have been statically displayed.
Using faux painting, animated singing dummies and other crazy display techniques, I brought a “Disney style” to an archaic industry that previously didn’t change, much less ever display furniture with an edge or trend in mind.
But just as home has been influenced by fashion, I think apparel specialty retailers can borrow from the furnishings business.
Your main source for display is always the fixture companies, but sometimes display props and fixtures designed for the department store, small retail and boutique trade sport very large price tags that could make your hair turn gray and leave you running for the nearest door.
What you may not know is that your local furniture stores have similar products at much better pricing if you are willing to get out and scout about a bit. Depending on the retail price points, style and point of view you are looking for, you will find an average of 15 to 50 sets of occasional living room table sets to choose from. Cocktail/coffee tables, end tables and sofa tables, layer, can make a fabulous display base to add clothing to. Mix these pieces in with your traditional fixtures and display pieces, maybe toss in a étagère for a vertical appeal, and voila!
Here’s a good example: Simply place a rectangular sized cocktail half under a sofa table then add an end table running alongside and you have a great tri-level display base that will bring a different look to windows or store entries.
Different styles of furniture can convey different feelings: Dark carved, traditional-style tables can be pared with Goth-style clothing for a dramatic look right for any New Moon. A sleek chrome and glass contemporary set of tables can give you a new updated vibe for contemporary sportswear, while a dark merlot finish set of tables provides a fresh, new classic appeal yet doesn’t look like something your mother would have chosen.
For the adventurous, I suggest you spend an afternoon shopping the resale stores in your area. You will be surprised at the cool, retro end tables you may find. Just spray paint or clean them up a bit, then introduce them to your store displays, all at affordable prices.
Shopping at bargain retailers in your area will also prove to be an inexpensive way to find display props that on their own may look a bit cheesy, but with stylish clothing look rather interesting and don’t have to break the budget. I have seen three-piece tables sets advertised for $99 to $199 that could do the trick.
The key is to mix these in with your traditional display pieces, which after all are more functional being specifically design for this purpose. You wouldn’t want a whole selling floor of store-bought furniture.
But a few carefully selected tables can make your store something very special/ “Cheap is the new Chic!”
Connie Post Benotn, CEO of Connie Post Global Media, has designed over 19 million square feet of retail space all around the world offering Affordable Design Solutions. She is the author of “A Beautiful Room Will Change Your Life” and a frequent speaker at industry retail seminars. conniepost@conniepost.com