by Jeff Grant

Trio remodeled the team store for the legendary baseball franchise.

Up until a few years ago, when we spoke with our sports retail customers about successful store merchandising, planning, and design we emphasized certain key elements. These included:

1. Picking the right location
2. Signing the appropriate lease.
3. Selling the most current merchandise.
4. Hiring and training great people.
5. Constantly promoting the store through both public relations and advertising.
6. Establishing very aggressive pricing policies.
7. Creating stores that are fun, interesting, and exciting
8. Being vigilant about the consistency of all of the above factors with both new and old stores.

These elements have not changed. The requirements have simply become tougher. The retail market place has changed and the advent of electronic commerce demands that the store of the future be as different from the computer monitor as a live concert is from a clock radio.

E-commerce has impacted every retail industry because it allows consumers easy access to product information from home or office. From their computer or PDA, at any time of day or night your customer can access information, comparison shop, receive discounts, and order merchandise from online retailers. Why get dressed, drive to a shopping center, park, deal with the kids, etc., when you can simply shop from home?

To combat this, and to remain commercially viable, the aggressive retailer has to create a sports retail environment that provides a sensory experience that cannot be created with a computer. The successful sports retailer should use sound, texture, graphics, lighting, and video combined with great staffing to ensure their customers have an enjoyable shopping experience. If possible, add interactive displays.

“Why do customers love to shop at Nike Town, Old Navy, The Disney Stores, or the GAP?”

New stores will provide their own special “WOW” factor that pulls customers in to the store and keeps them there. Why do customers love to shop at Nike Town, Old Navy, The Disney Stores, or the GAP? Because these stores are different than any others. One of our stores, Hansen’s, an actionsports retailer, added a mechanical snowboard/ski slope behind the shop and now offer lessons. It was a brilliant move for a Southern California store just a stone’s throw from the beach but several hours from the nearest snow. It added the “WOW” factor and helped extend the snowboard apparel and hardware selling season beyond that afforded by the very short Southern California winter. Not to mention, adding another revenue channel—the lessons—never hurts. Another case study: Sporting goods superstore Sport Chalet installed a pool behind one of their stores and started offering on-site scuba lessons.

These are the design factors you must consider when planning your new store or redesigning your existing facility.

1. The Store Front
The store front should all but glow. The sign should be graphically strong and descriptive enough that anyone driving by will immediately know what you sell. The sign should be big, bright, multi-layered, and fun.

Make sure the logo is prominent because you will be using it to create brand awareness throughout the shop and in all your media presentations and advertising.

Maximize the opportunities in your window displays. Install large display windows. Back them with walls so people focus on what’s in the window not, what’s behind it. Hire the best window trimmer in town and create memorable windows on a six-week and/or seasonal basis. Your display windows can do more to attract new customers than any single design element you can place inside the store, so “don’t scrimp, and always be consistent.”

2. Entry
The entry to the store should be a portal in to “retail world.” From the front door forward your customer should quickly be transported into sensory overload. Sound, sight, and motion should be immediate and strong.

Brand the store at the entry with a logo inset into the floor with tile or paint. If yours is a team store, use the team logo. Do the same overhead with a ceiling graphic. Have your window trimmer create a strong visual component in the entry foyer with a seasonal display that “demands” to be noticed.

3. Flooring
Use different types of flooring material to create texture in the store. The entry foyer might be slate with steel and mosaic tile logo inlays. Commercial vinyl flooring with inlaid laser-cut logos and icons can be used in the aisles. Custom carpet that pulls in your store’s colors and logo can now be created at a price that is comparable to “off the shelf” carpet. Remember that the floor and ceiling will “bracket” your merchandise. Make sure the floor adds value to the ambiance of the store.

4. Ceiling and Lighting
Forget dropped T-bar ceilings with fluorescent lights. Shoot for tall dark ceilings and add intimacy with dropped soffits, space frames, trusses, neon and graphics.

Lighting will have more of an impact on your store than any singular design aspect. Use track lighting with adjustable halogen lamps to “punch up” displays and to guide customers throughout the shop. Tailor fluorescent lamps with color-corrected bulbs and egg-crate diffusers to create an ambient light that is conducive to shopping. Consider lighting “effects” such as moving lights, color screens, or theatrical effects that will enhance the shopping experience.

5. The Point of Sale Counter
Get it away from the entry. Create traffic patterns that allow entry into your store without being immediately confronted by a cash register or by a line of customers waiting to check out. Make sure the counter is clearly marked with an overhead display or soffit and load the counter with point-of-sale merchandise opportunities. These might include plexi bins holding small impulse items as well as showcases that serve as counter tops so your customers have to see what’s in them as they make their purchases. Many of our clients make 25% of their sales from the counter area and over 33% of their profits because the margins are so much higher.

Custom fixtures are necessary to present unusual product to its best advantage.

6. Wall Fixtures
Go vertical. Merchandise up to ten feet high on the walls and let your salespeople help customers get things down. Don’t pack the walls with shelves. Break them up with merchandise, graphics, photo boxes, videos, and texture. Add brick or stone wall sections to the walls to create texture and add interest. Use flexible fixtures such as slatwall that allow you to change your merchandising as products change. Don’t be monotonous. Division and color are important so segment the walls into sections that provoke customer interest. Use different types of merchandising systems: Slatwall, grids, recessed standards, and wall cases. The variety of your visual presentation will provoke additional interest and sales.

7. Floor Fixtures
The floor fixtures should also be flexible. Long runs of gondolas should be limited because they will bind your store into an immovable pattern. The store of the future needs to be movable so most of the fixtures should be on casters so you can periodically “reinvent” your shop. Make sure the sales floor is wired for electric and computer cables. Fixturing will become much more customer interactive and future displays will incorporate video and computer technologies to impact sales at the point where the purchasing decision is most often made. Sport brands like Nike will often theme, with fixtures and graphics, their own floor displays in your store themselves. They have invaluable experience merchandising to their (and your) prospective customers

8. Sound and Music
Would you rather shop in a store where your toes are tapping or where the only sound is the sales people snapping their chewing gum? Sound is the world’s single most powerful emotional element and increasingly important to the way people enjoy sports. It can pull your heartstrings and open your check book. Sound encourages customers to stay in your store longer and to come back more often. Use in-store music effectively and consistently.

Powerful graphics are key to sports retail.

9) Signs and Graphics
Signs and graphics will help customers find their way through the store and will add to the overall ambiance of the shop. In some manner, the store’s logo should be present on every sign in the store so your customers will constantly be reminded of where they are shopping. In-store graphics should be large and distinctive and should include a combination of photo blow-ups, back-lit transparencies, and props that all promote your shop’s identity and theme.

10. Video
Video monitors can serve as an entertainment back drop and provide information about a variety of subjects. For instance, in a bike shop, racing, mountain biking, travel, tune-ups, and bike model and manufacturing information are all topics that will capture your client’s attention and keep them in the shop longer.

Summary
In a few years, sports retail, once again, will reinvent itself. The channels of commerce are changing and so are retail ownership patterns. Bigger retail is becoming more common, niche markets are being exploited, and online retailing continues to explode. Small retailers will be over-shadowed by well-financed large-scale chains who will look for “category killing” market share in your community. Profitable shops will have to be progressive. I would encourage any retailer who wants to stay ahead of the pack to find a retail consultant and/or designer who can help them analyze and strengthen their store’s position in the market place. The goal is simple: Your store should be your customer’s “favorite place to play.” Do whatever it takes to make that happen!

The gondola rack, such as this one from Opto,
is fundamental to a floor display.

By Jeff Grant

If variety is the spice of life, it’s the cayenne pepper of clothing display. Monotonous, uninspired presentation leads to flat sales and flatter profits. Mixed fixturing, different display heights and varied presentation is the key to apparel and accessory merchandising.

There are two general types of clothing display: Floor displays and wall merchandisers. Let’s discuss each:

Floor displays should involve a combination of two-way racks, four-way racks, and nesting tables (for folded clothing). In addition, cross merchandising presentation displays such as slatwall H-Units, pinwheels, and towers can provide a great platform for both clothing and accessories.

Standard two-way and four-way clothing racks are the backbone of apparel floor display, When working with clothing racks you generally want to display clothing “face-out” (that is, with the front of the product facing forward for a full view) as opposed to “shoulder out” (what you typically see in a circular rack with only the shoulder showing). This ensures that all the details of the product will be seen. Only display “shoulder out” when space is at an absolute premium or if you are not very deep in a particular line. One of the basic tenets of merchandising—always keep the store looking full—applies here as well. Stock face-out displays as fast as they empty—migrate stock from shoulder-outs if need be. An empty store provides an impression of either very high end merchandise (think Armani boutique) or a store going out of business. One note on traffic flow: Try to allow forty inches between floor displays—any closer, and customers will have a hard time negotiating the aisles.

Stock face-out displays as fast as they empty—migrate stock from shoulder-outs if need be.

Keep in mind that a sea of racks is not particularly interesting and, in fact, can discourage traffic flow. You’ll want to combine racks with nesting tables to create visual texture in the store. Tables are great for folded shirts and sweaters especially when combined with a body form placed on top of the table. Most tables are set at 24″H for the low table and 30-36″H for the top table. Round tables look good but are harder to merchandise. Square and rectangular tables are often the best bet. Sizes vary and can be customized. One thing you have to keep in mind is that nothing will kill your table display faster than product in disarray. Fold and re-fold often. (One current display trend sees jeans being displayed hung by their belt loops to highlight the design, and cater to the ever-widening fixation with labels.)

Wall displays include outriggers, armoires, glass bins, slatwall panels, recessed standards, puckwall, and more. We encourage our clients to mix the displays to once again create wall texture that is more compelling then a long slatwall covered with faced out t-shirts. You have to mix things up. Try creating merchandising areas in 4′W x 8′H story sections. Use selected fixtures to tell a story that may include:

Two-way racks can be combined with
tables to create an effective presentation.

Clothing displayed face out
Clothing side hung
Folded clothing
Accessories on a shelf
A life style photo or brand graphic.

The story might be about T’s, travel, men’s women’s, trunks, dresses, suits, etc. The message will vary as will the product but the type of fixtures chosen and the presentation will be what captures the attention of your customer.

Large graphics should be incorporated into the layout, especially if yours is a lifestyle store. Use vendor graphics or go with a royalty free site such as Shutterstock.com to acquire relevant images that can make your clothing presentation sing. Don’t inundate the store with images, simply use them to add punch to the stores merchandising. It’s hard to trade clothing display space for graphics but sometimes less is more and your customers will appreciate the negative space when shopping.

A word on mannequins: They are essential to clothing merchandising—even more so if you are displaying much of your product shoulder-out. Use them liberally to showcase items and add dimension to your presentation. If your mannequin is in the middle of the store, consider putting it on a platform to highlight it and protect it from harm. (For many, many more words on mannequins, read our comprehensive Mannequin Primer.)

One final thought: Reinvent your displays weekly. Move the racks and tables around, change the displays and the wall graphics, bring in the occasional prop to add drama, have fun with the displays, and your clients will notice the difference.

Faced with decorating her two-year old son’s nursery, Kyle Olewnik ran into a particular difficulty: A thin selection of contemporary nursery furniture in her local baby stores. The selection narrowed even further when she went to find “non-traditional clothing for boys.” As with most great retail ideas, it started with a problem in a perambulator in search of a solution. San Diego needed a fashionable child’s boutique, and “Style Child” was born.

“Kyle wanted a clean, mid-century aesthetic,” said Trio Store Designer Bill Mondigo. This found expression in a relatively uncluttered space dominated by the extensive use of wood—a mild blond wood for the fixtures, counters, and walls offset by mahogany laminate floor covering. “I hate having to rummage,” said Kyle. “I want all the product to be noteworthy.”

Merchandising in the compact 800 square foot space was a study in economy. How to keep the “noteworthy” theme while accommodating the numerous product lines? The solution was a creative mix of four-ways, slatwall fixturing, wall shelves, wooden bins, and a custom cashwrap showcase.

“I picked Trio because it provided a comprehensive solution. It could design my store and sold the display fixtures too,” said Kyle. “I’ve had nothing but compliments from customers about the store.”

Style Child opened in the Hillcrest neighborhood of San Diego, California, in late autumn 2006.