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Revive Your Décor Without Killing Your Budget
04/10/09
A top-to-bottom renovation may not be in the budget for your college store this year, but a few hundred dollars can go a long way toward helping your store look fresh and appealing to customers.
There are plenty of "frugal fixes" to brighten any store, according to Terri Meinel, CCR, director, University Bookstore, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, and Kathy Kaltenbach, assistant director, University Books and More, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. In their CAMEX 2009 educational session, Renovation and Improvements for $500 or Less!, the pair offered these simple and inexpensive ideas for store fixups:
Thoroughly clean everything. This is the cheapest and easiest way to improve the appearance of your store, but one that's often overlooked. Kaltenbach and Meinel pointed out interiors get dingy little by little over time and you may not notice how much grime has settled over everything. Once you start deep-cleaning your store, you may be surprised at the difference. Clean the floors, windows (inside and out), display fixtures, public restrooms, lighting, and any other surfaces. "Also clean your HVAC system so you have minimal dust coming back in the store," Meinel advised.
Touch up paint scratches. If you can afford the cost and disruption, repaint the entire wall surface. "I think a paint job refreshes everything and changes the store," Meinel said. But if that's not possible, just retouch spots where the paint has been nicked or is flaking off. You might think customers won't notice such small imperfections, but they do.
Kaltenbach led her student employees around the store and asked them for opinions on what should be updated. To her chagrin, they promptly called attention to paint chips on the floor. "I had seen the paint chips but with a thousand different things going on, I didn't bother with it," she said.
Add color. Invite a student or local artist to paint a mural or campus logo on a wall as an eye-catching focal point. Meinel spent $12 on two bright beanbag chairs to liven up the children's area.
Fix up existing fixtures. Your display fixtures may need a coat of paint, too. Meinel also covers broken fixtures with fabric.
Find new fixtures. Look for inexpensive items at garage sales and outlet stores that can be converted into visually interesting display elements, such as crates, wooden boxes, old chairs, metal wash basins, old luggage or trunks, and bushel baskets. Drawers from old cabinets and desks can hold office supplies, for instance. Meinel painted a mini-refrigerator green and uses it to display magnets.
"I also suggest hitting up manufacturers to see if you can get free fixtures," Kaltenbach said.
Set up "feature" areas. Reserve one or two of your new fixtures for use as a "feature fixture" to highlight sale merchandise, a new line, seasonal wares, or other specialty items. The feature areas—which can also use inserts, end caps, toppers, slats, or bins—will give a new look to that section of your store.
Replace and reposition lighting. If you're using incandescent bulbs, consider switching to "bright white" fluorescents, which give off a stronger light. "Soft white" fluorescents can create a warmer ambiance. Fill in dim spots around the store with low-voltage track lighting. "You can tell where your customers need brighter lights," Meinel said. She also suggested moving some lights to shine down on certain merchandise.
Declutter checkout counters. Point-of-sale areas tend to become crowded with impulse merchandise, signage, supplies for staff, and items that employees bring in, such as water bottles. Straighten the product displays, remove or replace tattered signs, and stow supplies and personal items under the counter.
Tidy your racks and shelves. "Sometimes the clutter is your inventory," Meinel said. "It doesn't matter what condition your fixtures are in if what's on them is a mess." Assign student workers to go through the store each day to refold and reorganize merchandise. It may be time to hold a sale to get rid of the last few units of products that won't be reordered.
Turn castoffs into props. Found a product with a popped shrinkwrap or crushed box? You could mark it way down for the sale table, but Meinel suggested using the item as a display prop instead. For instance, "when shrinkwrap breaks on a poster, we write it off and put it on the wall," she said.
Replace threadbare carpet. While changing out all your carpeting may be a budget-buster right now, you should cut out and replace sections of carpet that are badly worn or stained. If it's not possible to replace the carpet, try to reposition fixtures to hide the worst spots.
Update restroom fixtures. Your store's public restroom influences the image customers associate with your brand. "People do take an impression away from every part of your facility," Meinel noted. It's not enough to simply keep the restroom spotless, stocked with paper, and in working order. Make sure the hardware in the restroom (including toilets, faucets, towel dispensers, trash receptacles, stalls) looks as nice as the display fixtures in the rest of your store.
Trade places. You can give your store an entirely new look just by shifting departments around to reflow traffic patterns, or at least by moving things within each department. "We spin our fixtures around so they see different facets of some of our fixtures," Meinel said.
Remove or replace signage. Somehow, signs linger long after they show wear and tear, or an event has passed. Make a habit of checking signage throughout the store, including shelf-talkers. Limit the number of signs on windows to avoid creating visual clutter and blocking light. If you allow students or community groups to post signs, police that area often to keep it neat.
Even if your in-store signs aren't worn out, you might want to replace them with new ones featuring another color, typeface, or wording to give a different look to the store.
Go digital with signs. Digital picture frames—which display a series of still shots or a short video—are an inexpensive but eye-catching means for in-store display promotions or sharing information with customers at the checkout. The frames can use both photo images and PowerPoint slides.
See with someone else's eyes. You may have grown too accustomed to the appearance of your store. Invite another person to take a critical look. "See if there's a retailer in your area to walk with you and see things you may be missing," Kaltenbach recommended. Maybe you can return the favor in their store.
For a PDF handout of the session's PowerPoint presentation, which includes store photos, go to www.camex.org/handouts/Renov$500orLess_Presentation_6-01.pdf.
—Cindy Ruckman
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