Window Punk

Justification?

2011-04-17T10:58:00.000-07:00

I started this blog a few months ago, last August to be precise, because I'd been cast back into the role of fully employed retail display type person through events not completely of my own choosing. I started it as I thought it might aid me in embracing a field that I had, a few years previously left for good, I do tend to maintain that if you're going to do something-do it properly, with vim, vigor and enthusiasm.

However, as of late, all the old ghosts have come back to haunt me. I have thought, and think even more so now, that encouraging folk to buy things they don't really want or need is wrong. Over consumption will be our undoing and I've for a long time disdained marketing and advertising, retail display is merely part of that process and I've run out of ways to justify it otherwise. (My re-entry to retail was as a buyer, and I foolishly thought I could do some good, encourage a bit of enterprise, or something. It was also interesting. ) At some stage I'll take the gap and abandon it, for good this time - well as far as retail goes, anyway. It is, however, the trade I've worked in for over 30 years and will be hard to not utilise skills learned in other projects - one I remember fondly from a year or so ago was for a museum exhibit.

I think, for fun, I'll keep this blog going though and perhaps use it to show the excesses we go to to sell some piece of tat, some piece of glittery gadgetry with its built in obsolescence, some ridiculous fashion statement tacked together to last a season - barely. Perhaps I'll try shine some light on the opposites of that as well.

Goodnight.

Made in South Africa

2011-02-20T09:10:00.000-08:00

I’ve spent the last week slogging it out at my place of permanent employ getting our new venture off the ground and open. The store was finally handed over to us on Tuesday and with a supreme load of effort from all concerned we managed to open for Saturday morning trade.

The idea behind ‘Made in South Africa’ is to feature and encourage local talent to go a bit beyond the craft stage in the production of goods.

The store can be found at the International Departures section of Oliver Tambo Airport on the landside – so locals can shop there as well.

Featuring housewares, clothing, costume jewellery and home decor items from all over South Africa.

A few more Truworth pics

2011-02-20T08:48:00.001-08:00

As promised, last blog, I nipped past Eastgate to get a bigger perspective on Truworth's winter window presentations, there being more window frontage here than at Cresta.
A better shot of the whole panel than the Cresta pic due to the fact that at Cresta I had the Saturday morning shopping swarm to contend with but at Eastgate it was first thing in the morning.

Another window, what strikes me is better mannequin placement than I've seen for a while at Truworths.
I also had the opportunity to snap some of Truworth's speciality line windows:

Inwear

Those pod people again at

LTD.

In fact, the more I look at the mannequin’s expressions, the more I understand Donald Sutherland’s concern…

Daniel Hechter

A bit severe, methinks, icy metallic, er, faceless?

Truworth’s Man

Oddly enough , I didn’t get what was going on here till I saw the photo, I didn’t see the optical illusion thing with my own two eyes.

At least the speedbumps have gone…

Into the new season

2011-02-16T09:21:00.000-08:00

February and already the plane trees are turning, an ominous sign as I tootle through to the airport on the Enfield.

We've seen the back of the Sales and the back of frikking Valentines Day so onwards and upwards..

At Cresta this last weekend I saw the first signs of the new season...Firstly, that chain I love to poke holes in ( but only 'cos they try and in trying make such glaring WTFs)..

Truworths

And would you believe it, I like it. Not in yer face, but subtle, seasonal colours and textures, nicely (in my mind) transforming the window from a blank shoebox shape into something with corners and depth. A city scape feel with clever lighting tricks, I'll nip into Eastgate this week to check those windows out (bigger, more room to play.)

Also Truworth's LTD window thus:

What are those???

Lets take a closer look...

Omigod..alien pods!!

Sorry, I meant:

A quick glance at the window shows no sign of facehugger activity from the open pod, though the mannequin at the right looks a bit apprehensive...

No, yes, I realise they are flower pods and I think that they're actually quite good - I have an overactive imagination - and look at that lighting effect (sorry I likes a good lighting effect)..

Moving on... Foschinni's at Cresta

I like it, initially, but I wonder if it's somehow the finished thing I'm looking at. Further delving is required, there's almost too much prop.

Er, is that canvas supposed to be back to front? Can't help liking it though, it hints at things - like a work in progress -stay tuned...

Valentines Day

2011-02-16T09:06:00.000-08:00

*Shudder*

Nope,I shall not post any pictures here about this overblown, guts ripped out of it, money grubbing charade this particular promotional activity has descended into.

For a comprehensive review/crit of participants I recommend Ingrid's page.

For a once pagan holiday based around wolves and hunting and stuff, bleugh. The constant "If you 'love' someone spend oodles and oodles on a pile of utter kitsch" really gets my anti-retail muscle twitching...

Phegh! Here I love ya, please accept this rather horrendously designed twist of otherwise useless precious metals and stones that have probably cost a few lives (and shortened many others),not to mention caused untold havoc to the environment .. sorry, I worked on a gold mine once - I've seen what goes down..

Anyway, next blog, something a bit more positive.

Peace and luuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurve....

Sale Time

2011-01-16T02:34:00.001-08:00

Post xmas sale season is upon us and we are, as usual, inundated with broken size-curves, duff merchandise and unwanted lines. Which is the time I do my shopping as I can pick up something at a steal that I like that the masses didn't , my win >:-)

Sale presentations have always been an pain-in-the-posterier in my time in retail. From the pack-the-window-with-as-much-crap-as-possible-so-no-one-misses-it mindset (well to be honest I've found that criteria applied in non-sale presentations as well, sooooo) to the still persistent idea that it should be presented as 'fashionably' and prominently as possible to entice sales - er, its on sale because, well it didn't sell, and folk don't like it and mutton dressed as lamb is still mutton!

Still, the sale has to be distinguishable from other promotional activity. Again, like Xmas, sale-time tends to rather design restrictive, the norm being 'SALE' in big letters and a combination of red, white and black or black, red and white or...you get the picture.

Yes, in my mind sale is sale, you're taking a knock on your prices and the last thing you want to do is throw more money at it. But it is still a representation of who you are and hopefully, an enticement to the customer to buy into new lines and regular non-sale items and I think, in todays retail market image is near everything - a shabby sale makes you look shabby and cheap merchandising is just that.

I like the clean lean and mean option, let folk now what's going on in an as expedient way as possible - like this:

By now your customer should have an idea of the kind of merchandise that you have and what to expect.If your image looks professional and crisp then the expectation that a good bargain is to be had will be maintained.

Nothing wrong with a bit of fun, a quirk, something that stands out from the herd and it doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg.

I liked Truworths take:

Yah, I couldn't resist, (Truworth bashing again?) It was first thing in the morning and the signage had fallen down overnight, revealing a rather bemused looking mannequin to the early morning mallers seeking that pre working/shopping day caffeinated rush. I do like the idea of the model clad in sale-wrap - effective, to the point and with a touch of humour.

Sale Time

2011-01-16T02:34:00.000-08:00

I like the clean lean and mean option, let folk now what's going on in an as expedient way as possible - like this:

Nothing wrong with a bit of fun, a quirk, something that stands out from the herd and it doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg.

I liked Truworths take:

Xmas round up - caviar and fishfingers

2011-01-15T22:06:00.000-08:00

OK, right, before we get into 2011 let's just round-off, shoot down, etc the remnants of 2010.

Several of us visually merchandisingly sussed folk get together (net-wise) and give a little feed-back on some retail-display related stuff and then give the thumbs up or down on what we've seen/experienced/uncovered.

Now no-one likes criticism but it's an essential part of growing, getting better, yadda-yadda fishcake and we try to be as constructive as possible (or not, and put the, er, boot in >:-) )

Christmas!

As I mentioned in my last post on such, I saw very little to fill me with Christmas cheer, but then, I'm a cynical sod and possessed by the Spirit of the Grinch so I relied on my compatriates to blog and post and comment etc. I did take pics buuuut, meh, couldn't be bothered.

Ingrid has a great blog on the whole subject of visual merchandising so I'll direct you there for the Xmas

Caviar

And the

Fishfingers

Next blog- sale windows!!

Xmas

2010-12-23T00:51:00.000-08:00

I should put an xmas blog together...meh. Truth is I'm a tad jaded with retail at the mo', xmas makes it worse - malls full of excessive consumerism.I've also not seen much that makes me go 'Ooh-aaaah', pretty pedestrian in the main, an overt pc-ness of avoiding the term 'Christmas' and using 'Holiday' instead - *shrug*

..And of course, after seeing the windows the likes of Sainsbury's and Harrods etc in London put together (look 'em up...'Google' it) a couple of pics of tin foil birds and 'alternatively' coloured window displays seem a bit, ah, silly.

I'll feel more inspired after a break in the Midlands , perhaps and get back on board next year.In the meantime, check out my other blog :Whoops Dimensional Slippage

Happy holidays and a festive New Year - drive safe and we'll see ya next year.

Poetry and the first signs of Xmas

2010-11-01T12:41:00.000-07:00

It aint often I'm impressed, I've gotten too damn cynical for that I think. Too much hard sell, marketing and generally catering to the lowest common denominator has been dragged before my withering eyes (and no small part of that installed by me, myself.)

I was in Eastgate (buying yet more Xmas lights), and , as I get there before the general opening time of 9 a.m. I get to have a wee shufty 'round the centre. The last time I was there I passed a boarded up 'watch-this-space' shop front, this time it was open, I'm thinking I'd caught it on opening day as the fella at the door was stressing that the power had not been switched on yet and-it-was-nearly-opening time.

The store- Poetry. On chatting to the fella at the door Poetry is part of the Cape Union Mart chain, catering 'exclusively' for ladies and very obliging he was when I asked to take pictures. Although very straight forward, sparse even, the windows were fresh and garden themed, featuring fresh, bright potplants even! Not a very big store, but in my mind, not big enough for sectioned off/backed windows, the big, wide and open-backed windows took the eyes into the store looking interestingly full yet not cluttered behind.

The classic looking cupboard in the one window complemented the one's used for merchandising instore which helped with the feeling that the floor merchandising and window presentation were one and the same.

Elsewhere in the mall I snapped this small boutique, Ana Sousa. Not as obvious in the picture as I would've liked was the 'prop' which was an interestingly complex tangle of wire and leaves forming a sort of a chair/stand for a shoe/accessory group - anyway, it caught my eye and made for an eye-catching focal point in an essentially minimalist display.

And on to the first Xmas window for 2010 on this blog - A.D. Spitz shoes. I've seen some really interesting windows from Spitz and some dreadful ones. Shoes on the whole can be difficult to 'display', the easy thing- to fill the window with everything you have or risk the shoes being overpowered by props, especially in a window, the size of the one featured. Here, I think the backing works well. focusing on the small, neat shoe and accessory groups. The three dimensional reindeer heads were repeated in smaller windows and instore.

I promise to get back to being brutal next time....

The good, the bad, the ugly..

2010-10-17T04:30:00.000-07:00

Cue relevant theme music......

Had to pop down to Cresta Centre yesterday - crikey, twice in a month, this is getting a bad habit, but 'onest guv' I needed a new 'puter screen and I thought, on the off chance, I might find a copy of the new Grinderman album (ha, ha, fat chance!).

So, out wi' the handy cell-camera for a few window piccies to maul on line.I'm using the cellie camera more and more, I get irate looks and was chased out of Eastgate a couple of weeks ago for daring to brandish my usual camera (though that might've been merely due to an overly authoritative security guard wanting to make a point).

I'm collaborating with a few other window-dressery types online to do a worst of best of thing, Ingrid Summers being one of the co-conspirators....

So without further ado, Here's Foschinni, well placed in the mall nice, neat, nothing overtly ooohhhmygawrsh, but typically (for Foschinni) well balanced/lit/etc etc. Put it in the 'good' catagory...

Identity, a young fashion chain, linked to Truworths I think. Fun window, catchy theme but let down by not really connecting to the merchandise, in fact almost overpowering the stock - too much prop, methinks.

Now, this I call bad. Neatly dressed, well lit, prime bloody position in the mall, but come on?!?! Where's the effort, would a leeeetle propping go astray? It's obviously a matric dress window. No idea on mannequin placement in relation to mannequin or window frame... The cost of the garments alone tells me that couldn't a leeetle budget be found to get decent windows in?

Miladies at the mo' must be one of the most boring clothing chains around, apart from that other one ermmmm, dammit, the name slips my mind at present. Look at this...be still my heart. Up, up and errrr, take it away....The accessories window leaves me equally cold...I think it has to do with my aversion to mirror-chrome, next thing it'll be all burnt orange and shag-pile - watch.

These guys need their posteriors well kicked, very good position, within the 'entertainment' section at Cresta, across from a Barnyard venue and right next to a Spur. The stock available alone could create a window of awesomeness. Surfwear/t-shirts/skateboards. What do we get:
"In Your Wildest Jeans"?????? oh dear, Billabong, I think somewhere along the line there's been too much sun and toke too many.

Then I went blind... or perhaps the hangover was kicking in...I actually forget the name of the place, I was in shock, City Girl or City Nights or some such- big, neon, red. There should be some kind of law in malls about this kind of thing, there are no words to describe the horror, perhaps they are trying to be cynically hip in some way...Take it awaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyy....

Cresta

2010-10-09T05:01:00.000-07:00

So, hot on the heels of this morning's post I find myself with time on hand so I nip down to the Cresta mall in Blackheath. Cresta is often seen as the poor mans Sandton City, its certainly, in my eyes, more 'popular' as far as headcounts go (in fact I seldom go there , too damn crowded! Oh, and btw , I loathe malls......)

I initially wanted to check out the Edgars revamp, very smart it is, typically 'Edgars' with a far more open feel than previous incarnations with a good line of sight to the far reaches of both floors with lots of name logos and graphics to pull you through. I still feel though, if you were blindfolded and led unknowingly to the middle of an Edgars store that you wouldn't really know where you were when the blindfold was removed.

My biggest surprise, however, was the Jet revamp.I was aware of a revamp at the Eastgate mall but had no idea what it entailed. If you thought that deconstructivism was past its sell by date no-one told Jet. Ceilings out, guts revealed and everything painted mat black, which complmented the merchandise very well. There was some ceiling detail picked out in an industrial yellow. One would think with all the black that the lighting levels would suffer, surprisingly not, the floorstock standing out very well with no pervasive sense of shadowy gloom often found with blacked out ceilings.

Another surprise - the've put back dedicated window space - with mannequins!
Its not that they're wonderful windows, I was just somewhat struck that after so many years of poster advetorials with some badly placed stock squeezed somewhere in there that Jet had forgotten visual merchandising completely.

Jerry

2010-10-08T22:36:00.000-07:00

How time flies!! A month fraut with store relays (and re relays), running around sourcing props and a weeks leave levered in at the end to unwind a bit, but also do the million and one things that needed to be done around the house.

Anyway, Jerry.....? Jerry was a trainee I had way back in Jet Eloff Street, when Jet still did windows and not those bland 'big-poster-ad-and-an-unnesesary-pile of-merchandise-next-to-it' things they do these days. Jerry was keen, worked hard/played hard as I suppose we all did. The only thing I battled to get him to do right was merchandise selection. Though main windows featured advertised lines as close to the pictured items as possible there were always inbetween times to take care of. Also at that store, we had more than enough window space to go beyond the advertised lines. Jerry seemed to battle co-ordinating colour,ending up with mismatched clothing across the window front.When this happened on preplanned advertised stock I began to realise that Jerry was perhaps colourblind. It just meant that one of us would check the merchandise before it was steamed and prepped.

The point of this reflection on past days is I think I know what's happened to Truworths windows over the last few years....Jerry's working there!! I must admit that I have been out of mainstream visual merchanding in any capacity but as an observer for a while now, but I have always thought that colour co-ordination was one of the main tenets of a good presentation - did that change?

Also, for fun I thought I'd snap some windows away from the big sparkly malls. The headless Truworths model presentation above was from the shopping centre in Brixton, the other two from a large mall in Kempton Park - better models but still not a patch on what you'd find in, say, Sandton or Canal Walk.

However, from upper class to middle of the road and down, all the windows were clinically tidy, well lit and similarly propped.
Also snapped, a new theme from Truworths - shipping/camoflague? (all a bit close to the present political climate methinks ;-p)

Whilst in Kempton Park I noticed the Edgars mens theme, I suppose unuaual in that many Edgars stores I see these days have little or no window space (reminds self-must get down to see Edgars revamped Cresta store) -but a pretty bland presentation anyway. (Aside,Edgars was one of the stores I used to regularly check for innovation and high standards - used to...)

One from Foschinni - subtle use of the red used to emphasis the cancer awareness campaign, though perhaps the round cancer sign could've been better positioned. I find the window nice, tight and crisp.

..and on from that

2010-09-04T06:18:00.000-07:00

I did find another Truworths window - their Man's shop, and I think this one shows another way that they've lost the track at the moment.I think you can get so absorbed by creating new and exciting props that you lose sight of what the props actually represent and start distracting from the window. What are these? Hubcaps - little ones..and everyone's now bald- help!!

Here's quite a campaign at Cape Union Mart an 'outdoorswear' retailer, all around rucksacks and all very informative, actually, different rucksacks for different lifestyles ranging from the city hiker to the woodsman and everything inbetween. I'll bet those cardboard pop-outs set them back a bit!

Here's another outdoorswear chain - Due South jumping on the ,er, green bandwagon with 'Earth' inspired t-shirts.....I, myself, don't like the shotgun scattering of visuals all over the place here, big picture-at-the-back.....no focal point as such and a little hard to discern what the actual t-shirts are.

Independents can vary from the really, really good to the dreadful. many, unfortunately, have the sales staff doing the actual window displays with the thinking that if they know haw to sell it, they'll know how to display it....I think it depends on what you are trying to tell. If it's a straight fashion story co-ordinated and dressed on good mannequins/props in a small area then you can get a way with it. The one here, A little chain called Nicci - (they have a few shops in a couple of malls) have always managed to put in a neat concise statement, even if its not mainstream fashion. Perhaps style statement would be a better description, nicely offset with the chandelier.

I completely forgot to get this outlets name, I haven't seen them before, they are a sportswear outlet. I'm totally bored with endless rows of headless torsos, I know that the cost of mannequins is exorbitantly high, but still, there are other ways of displaying clothing other than on a torso. The flaccid limp arms tucked into pockets, the sort of step-and-repeat positioning that really gets tiresome used time after time. In limited instances, they are fine (see Nicci above) but in this instance I feel its just too much. And my other beef - lighting!! I think lighting is make-or-break on a window and to skimp on this detail in the shop window (or interior) construction is criminal.

However, I did like the decal treatment on the glass and the small step and repeat treatment of rugby tops in another small window - which was repeated on an ajoining wall instore.

Putting the boot in..

2010-08-28T09:23:00.000-07:00

OK, lets get this show on the road, shall we.....

Retail display, or rather 'visual merchandising' in South Africa, as in the rest of the world has been a changeable affair. Not quite reaching the sophistication of the European and American fields, we've held our own. Smaller budgets and in many cases, non-existant display presence has narrowed the field in South Africa quite considerably and it certainly isn't the 'career-choice' it was when I stumbled into the realm in the seventies.

I find that during times of retail downturn, like now, suddenly the stops come out and windows sparkle again and after a good few years (in my opinion) of some pretty bland output, where in fact, in an arena dominated by major chain stores, it was hard to tell them apart, display-wise.

I'll kick off with some recent examples in the local marketplace.

First up, on your right there - Markhams, a men's fashion retailer, I shop here, sometimes, depending on what I see, at the moment I'm tempted.
Their windows are currently quite exiting, still using the big-blowup-picture that has been the staple over the last few years in retail windows but certainly bringing in some dedicated merchandise presentation making the blow-up pop out at you as you pass.

Truworths is a fashion store catering from teen to, well, probably mid-life crisis actually. Currently updating their windows, I'll hunt them down on completion but here is their funky young at heart range up and running. I've often rated Truworths windows, a lot of time (and money) is spent on innovative propping, making them stand out of the rest of the crowd. However, the last few years I've felt they've slipped a bit, the propping's still there but the whole layout and feel has become cluttered, with not much thought given to mannequin positioning/interaction. There is another thread I want to pursue at a later date, and that is the difference in presentation between high-income based shops and low-income, this affects other chains than Truworths as well.

Foschinni's, Truworths main rivals, have for a while had a very minimalist approach, with the occasional big-blow-up. What I do admire with Foschinni's, though, is that by and large, their mannequin groupings are always well placed and balanced
(perhaps with less time put into propping, more time is spent here? - I know at present these teams fly around the stores at great pace)

Anyway, that's just some of the major players around at the moment. I'll spend some time on the smaller chains and independents later on.