Sales shows mean displays, so it’s time for some creativity
Fall is a busy time here and I’ve been working my way through a long list preparing for a couple of upcoming sales shows.
One of these is taking place later this month, a wholesale open house and fabric show in Georgetown, Ontario for distributor QuiltSource Canada. This is an event open to stores only and I’m one of the vendors.
My plan was to have a fairly simple 10′ x 10′ booth, but when I heard that the keynote speaker was Kelly Davey, a display specialist, my plans changed.
Kelly will be sharing ideas on how shops can plan exciting and entertaining floor and window displays for their stores. It’s all about creating a positive shopping experience for customers.
How To Improve My Displays
Thinking I could use a bit of improvement in this department myself, I put on the ole’ thinking cap to figure out how I could bump up the look of my display on a budget.
My dresser after rescue
An Old Dresser
My first stop was to the local Goodwill store where I purchased a very sad looking dresser for $20.00. It looked like it had been spray painted white 30 years earlier. Then time took its toll and it yellowed horribly. The idea was to further distress it and use it as a display piece to show off my zipper line.
Normally when you distress furniture with milk paint you paint a base color, a top color and then sand down to the base color and the wood to create worn areas. My dresser already came with two colors, the yellowed topcoat and the white undercoat.
With my trusty electric sander in hand, I quickly had ‘the look’ without even picking up a paintbrush. Then instead of varnish I used wax to finish it. The end result – it looks great! Marie Antoinette would be proud of me. I might even be able to double my money on the dresser if I ever sell it!
Some Bargain Mannequins
A quick shopping stop on ebay provided me with three inexpensive mannequins. These will display my backpacks and shoulder bags with aplomb.
Mirrors and Luxurious Drapes
I’m still in the process of creating some luxurious looking drapes with the teal faux silk fabric I purchased locally. My plan is to create a French boudoir feel in my booth with lots of mirrors (from Goodwill) hung against the curtain backdrop. It should look pretty spiffy.
A Pre-Staging Area
Everything that’s going to the show piles up in my living room as I try to get a feeling for how the different elements in the booth might look together. This is pretty challenging as there isn’t enough space to lay it out properly, but as I don’t have any other staging area, I make do. That’s what we quilters and sewists do best, right?
Like what you see in this picture?
Most of those bags, backpacks and zippers you see in the photo above are available for sale.
Shown, clockwise from top left: ABQ Zippers, Voyager Bag, Daytripper Backpack, Market Street Backpack, Foldover Clutch in black (on mannequin, not yet available), Foldover Clutch (on floor, not yet available), and Yorkville Shopper.
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