One of the most necessary things for any store to have is an open sign. We recommend a sign that can either be turned on and off or be switched so that it is extremely obvious to shoppers when your store is open. Especially for storefronts that are in strip malls or have sidewalk traffic, an effective open sign draws customers in and convinces them you are ready for business.

The best option is by far is the neon or LED signs that light up. These signs come in a variety of shapes including square, oval and vertical. The lights guide customers to your business and tell them from even far away that your store is either open or closed. Light up signs encourage drop in traffic, especially during “off times” or on Sundays and holidays when some stores are closed.

If you don’t want a lit open sign, or if you business is in an area that has regulations against lit signs, there are many traditional open sign options. One of our favorite options is the sliding open and closed sign. A panel slides back and forth to tell your customers if you are open or closed. Plus, there is space to list your hours of operation or other messages.

Horizontal Sliding Open and Closed Sign

Other options include outdoor or indoor flags that will make sure customers know that you are open for business. And don’t forget to try out other lights and signs as well to welcome customers into your store.

What type of open and closed signs do you use?

Hats, scarves, ties and belts can be tricky to display and more difficult to keep organized. However, these can be great impulse purchases when displayed effectively. These fixtures do not take up very much floor space and can enhance other displays as well. Because hats, scarves, ties and belts are great gifts, think about featuring these accessories for Valentine’s Day.

Some great store fixtures are available that are designed specifically for displaying scarves, belts and ties in an eye catching way. The rotating belt/tie/scarf rack features 20 hooks and stands upright. Customers will be able to view these items from all angles. Ball spiral racks are also optimal for scarves, ties and belts. With 29 chrome balls featured in a spiral figure, no items will be hidden from a customer’s view. Additionally, these fixtures are easy to move and go along well with other retail displays. Try putting them in a high traffic area and see if your sales increase.

29-Ball Spiral Rack |     Rotating Belt/Tie/Scarf Racks

There are several varieties of hat displays available to meet your store’s needs. Free standing floor cap towers will add visual dimension to a boring wall. A 12 tier cap tower has the ability to hold 72 hats and a 6 tier cap rack will hold 24 hats. If you’re looking for a countertop hat rack they are available in 2-tier, 3-tier and 4-tier depending on how many caps you wish to display. A 4-tier countertop cap tower is also available.  The difference between racks and towers is that a tower has a front and back and the tiers are stationary, giving it the ability to stand against a wall. The tiers on a cap rack rotate, and therefore must be placed in an area where customers can use the rotating store fixture.

Countertop Cap Tower |     4-Tier Standing Cap Rack

If you have wire grid or slatwall, a cap display that attaches to those fixtures may be more suitable and space saving for your store. Additionally, cap sky tiers will save floor space because they attach to existing display racks. And extra revolving cap tiers are available if you want to add more caps to a rack.

Cap Sky Tier |          Extra Cap Tier

Hat racks keep your merchandise in the best selling condition possible. We wouldn’t recommend throwing hats into a dump bin because they could be damaged and will lose their shape.

Also, think about using these apparel accessories on your mannequin displays. For more about mannequins check out this previous blog post: Mannequins.

We listed five helpful tips earlier in the week for store owners to effectively display jewelry. Instead of hanging jewelry by itself on a peg, we recommend using jewelry display cards for several reasons that include:

• Jewelry cards keep items neat and from tangling easily. This aspect will save your employees and customers time and frustration by not having to hassle with knotted merchandise.
• It is easy to mark prices on jewelry cards. By putting the price on the card, you will not have to strategically figure out a way to label the price directly on jewelry items.
• Because jewelry cards fold over and adhere to themselves, jewelry is never harmed by adhesives or connectors. This is a perfect way to avoid annoying sticker residue on items.
• Jewelry cards are perfect for display racks.

Self-adhesive necklace fold-overs will hold any size necklace, bracelet or even hair ties. With convenient inserts, you will be able to display merchandise on racks or counter stands. Available in cases of 100 these jewelry cards come in white or black.

Self-Adhesive Necklace Fold-Overs

For earrings you can choose between black or tan velour imprinted earring cards with “FASHION EARRINGS” on the front, black velour plain earring cards, or white plastic earring cards. Available in cases of 100, these earring cards will hold pierced or clip on style earrings.

Plastic Imprinted Earring Cards

Special pin cards with “FASHION PIN” printed on the front are available in cases of 100. Barrette cards in black and white feature slits for displaying barrettes and the ability to hang on wire displays and peg displays.

Barrette Cards

Enjoy time with your family this holiday season.

– From everyone here at Store Supply Warehouse

Hopefully after the holiday season you won’t have too much Thanksgiving and Christmas merchandise left on your shelves. If you don’t have vendors that you can ship back to, most of the left over items have to be stored away until next season. It may seem like a huge undertaking now, but taking extra precautions in storing your seasonal merchandise will keep it looking new for a profitable season next year.

It should go without saying that nothing should be left out in open bins. Keep in mind all the elements that could cause harm or damage to your products. If you building floods when it rains, keep boxes off the ground and use plastic containers instead of cardboard. Clear plastic containers can be helpful so you can see what is in them.

Labeling takes almost no time at all and will save you hours of going through all your boxes next year. Make sure when you stack and store your boxes that the labels are facing out so you can read them, they won’t do you any good hidden away.

With breakable items, it’s better to wrap in a paper without any ink. Newspaper and color tissue paper could get wet and stain your products. Also, be mindful of what products you combine in one box. We recommend keeping scented items separate from everything else, so your products do not permanently smell.

Unless you are absolutely sure that some of your food products will be like new in a year, do not try and store them. On items that are going to expire or that are outdated, consider having a clearance sale to get these products out of your store. And instead of throwing them out if they don’t sell, you can donate items to food banks or charity organizations.

Even though the process is a hassle for you now, you will be so happy that you made the extra effort next year when unloading holiday merchandise back on your shelves with ease.

How do you store your holiday merchandise? Any tips for new store owners?

In an uncertain retail market some store owners may be hesitant to invest in more expensive merchandise and advertising this season. However, a recent article by the St. Louis Post Dispatch titled, “Bustling Halloween market has retailers seeing back” reports that customers are expected to spend more than $50 on Halloween this year.

The article features retailers from Halloween store owners to haunted house operators to pumpkin farms. They all report that profits are expected to match and even top last year’s sales. One Halloween retail store said their sales are up 20 percent from the same time last year.

With a majority of Halloween spending taking place in the last two weeks of October, it’s not too late to cash in on this holiday surge in spending.

You never want your store to become dated when it comes to your merchandise and displays. There are some classic products that will always be profitable but you should keep a close eye on the newest trends and your inventory. This is not to say that you should jump at every pet rock craze that comes along, but it’s never a bad idea to know what your customers are talking about and looking for.

Here are some trends with long term value that might be selling points for you now or in the future.

Go Green
According to the 2009 Cone Consumer Environmental Survey, 34% of Americans are more likely to buy environmentally responsible products today. And 70% indicate that they are paying attention to what companies are doing with regard to the environment right now, even if they cannot buy until the future.

Online Sales
With gas prices still high, consumers are looking to the internet to save themselves a costly drive. If you already have an online store consider offering free shipping for spending over a certain amount or advertise a free gift with purchase. However, if you are thinking about creating a new online store, be prepared to advertise or discount aggressively to drive initial traffic in order to build an online customer base.

Buying American
This is not a new concept, but with struggling economy and the American car industry urging consumers to buy American made cars, some consumers are looking at the tags on other items as well. Look at your inventory and weigh if highlighting some of your American made products could make a difference. However, be cautious of this tactic if the majority of your products are not American made, as it will only highlight that you carry imported products. While there is nothing wrong with imported products, certain customers may not like it.

Health
The boomer generation of Americans that were born between 1946 and 1964 are moving into the senior citizen bracket, 65 years of age and up. With the life expectancy hovering around 80, the boomers aren’t going anywhere. In their retirement they have money to spend and are looking to healthier lifestyles to keep up with the grandkids.

Do It Yourself
People are looking for money savers. Instead of paying someone for labor, some are finding that they don’t mind rolling up their sleeves themselves. If your product is suited to do-it-yourselfers, capitalize on your expertise by hosting workshops. People will buy your products for their project and call on you if things don’t end up looking like the picture.

Have you noticed any current trends that have impacted your business?

We are looking for a rack (preferably on wheels) that we can display throw rugs on. The rugs are braided and we have yet to find a good way to display them. Any suggestions? - Dean, PA

With more independent retailers utilizing social media outlets, Store Supply Guy is joining the conversation on Twitter and recommends that you do the same if you haven’t already.

If you like reading weekly updates on the Store Supply Guy Blog, imagine receiving several updates every day from @StoreSupplyGuy on Twitter. Here, we can keep up with your day-to-day activities and find out what is really in the heads of store owners. Whether offering words of encouragement or some helpful tips, in 140 characters or less, @StoreSupplyGuy will be available for all your retail needs.

Store Supply Warehouse also manages a corporate Twitter account, @StoreSupply. If you ever want to know what trade shows Store Supply Warehouse will be attending or receive information about Store Supply products, @StoreSupply is updated daily with such tweets.

Are you still a little fuzzy about what Twitter is? Here are the top 5 reasons why we think Twitter is a great resource for retailers.

1. Networking and Finding Potential Customers
2. Research Tool for New Ideas
3. Reinforce Your Brand Name
4. Promote News, Events and Products
5. Direct Traffic to Your Site

If you already have a Twitter account, follow me for some great tips, @StoreSupplyGuy! If you have yet to join Twitter, make a profile and start networking with thousands of other retailers.

The summer issue of the Store Supply Warehouse catalog is now available, featuring 121 new products, 47 closeout items and 262 reduced price items. The 80-page catalog is easy to navigate with color coded categories and more, so you can easily find exactly what you need.

Some of the exciting, new items include:

• Eco Friendly, Non-Woven Tote Bags in 2 sizes and 2 colors
• 12” Rotating Slatwall Unit
• Economy Tier Tables
• Color Tag Fasteners

Store Supply has never featured so many savings in one catalog. Some of the closeout products are over 60% off their original price. Store Supply already offers a no risk, low price guarantee every day and with these discount prices they won’t be beat. These items are also available online where customers can shop in the closeouts category for all the savings listed together.

If you have been thinking about making a change to increase sales in your store, now is the time to act. Whether you would like discount packaging options or to enhance the security in your store, the Store Supply Warehouse is the one stop shop for all your retail needs.

The latest catalog can be requested at www.storesupply.com for FREE and orders can also be placed on the company’s website.

On Tuesday, we chatted about creating dynamic displays that are also versatile. One of the easiest ways to achieve a fabulous display that can be easily changed when you get new merchandise is with a wire grid unit.

Options are limitless when using a wire grid unit. There are so many accessories, plus the units can be used as free standing displays or as wall displays. They are also perfect display units for store windows, since they are partially see through so people can see your display items and the items in the store as well.

Grids can be set up in a variety of ways; from L shaped, triangle, U shaped, four way to gondola displays, the options are infinite.

And the accessories that can be added to the units really make these type of displays one of the most useful investments for a store owner. Accessories include:

• Baskets
• Faceouts
• Peg Hooks
• Shelf Brackets
• Hangrail Brackets
• Acrylic Bins, Displays and Trays
• Cap and Hat Racks
• Shelving
• Lights
• Brochure Holders and Literature Racks

By mixing and matching accessories, wire grid shelving units can fit any merchandise display needs and can help showcase items in order to increase sales.