'The Domino Effect'

(Hmmmn, sounds like a spy movie title, doesn't it?!)

A former visual merchandising manager of mine used this term a lot. It refers to what happens when you undertake a retail display re-set: Start moving product from one area, and you have to find a place to put it. That means you have to change another area.....and so on, and so on, and so on. One thing moves, everything is affected - just like dominoes standing on end in rows. It can easily get completely out of control and come crashing down around you. A plan is essential.(Working at night after the shop is closed is helpful , too!)

Last week, at the Hogue Cellars retail shop, Karen & I walked in and surveyed the shop, then into the storage area to look at backstock quantities. We then made a plan for where to start, what moves where, etc. It took us all of ten minutes. Of course, the shop is small....at Columbia, where the retail floor space is more than five times larger, I spend at least two days drawing a floorplan and sketches of each display setup, plus a 'map' of the progression of displays to be changed - in order of attack. That helps to keep the mess to a minimum.

So, let me show you the progression:

The back wall shelves looked like this ^
The main product on them was grape themed items

We moved them across the shop to the window area, which looked like this when we arrived:

And now it looks like this

Close up

I took the product from this display:

And put it on the shelf units


The warm color here is really a great pull from the front doors.
The area that looked like this

Now looks like this, with new products from TAG

A rearrangement of some of the fixtures allowed me to place the branched candlabra up high in the display, accentuating both the height and theme. This product is one of my favorites this season - it's at Columbia, as well, and selling like crazy!

In the large oak cabinet to the left of that display, we had all of the glassware

Karen left the logo glass and added large format bottles of wine. She used their boxes as risers, and the graphic logos on them really punched up the display. Great impact!

The shelves across the shop hold food products:

Not much changed, except the new Halloween product display on the small counter 'feature area':

And I can't even TELL you how many orange and black neoprene wine bags are still in the stock room. I guess maybe in Prosser, kids get candy when they trick-or-treat.....and adults get WINE! I could get into that!

Maybe a game of dominoes, too...