Gump’s
Another student’s Store Study Assignment:
By Divya V.
What does the store design tell you about the retailer?
Very high-end gift store. One of the first retail stores in San Francisco. Originally a frame shop converted into a premium gift store. Huge tourist attraction now – shops history brings a lot of people here. Reminded me of Liberty of London store (a huge store on Central London’s Oxford St., very popular among the rich and famous, and the tourist alike).
Describe the store’s target customer?
High-end Bay Area residents. Tourists from all over the world.
Is the merchandise displayed in an accessible manner for the customer?
Yes, displayed beautifully all around the store. It’s like walking in an overcrowded posh mansion of some rich fella.
Is it stock piled or more minimalist?
Neither and both. Mostly the merchandise is displayed in a beautiful manner. Most areas are crowded – more than visual merchandising, interior decorating techniques have been used.
Do the fixtures suit the store environment?
Yes. Both linear and non linear. A lot of shelves, tables, and cabinets are used throughout the store.
Is the ambience fitting for the store’s image?
Yes. High-end store so it is purposely meant to look that way. Even the sales persons wear suits and neckties!
Does the light highlight the merchandise?
Yes, the store is pretty well-lit and in many places mood lighting is used.
How is color used in the store?
Most places are white
Are the windows pleasing and drawing you into the store?
Windows alone may be not. The mast lag above the store is pretty eye-catching though. From outside the store looks like any other big store. Easy to find on the street yet if I weren’t looking for it I would have walked past it.
If you could make any changes in the store what would they be?
Perhaps make the windows more attractive and bring some element of the history of the sore in the display itself.
A Picture Perfect Painting
Is this real or is this a painting?
It’s real. This could easily be translated into a really cool display. The photo is of Lydia Hearst, who has been in some amazing editorials lately.
(image via: FGR, Elias Wessel for Vixen Magazine Spring 2010)
Colours in Cultures
I’ll be honest, I don’t find this chart that user-friendly, but I like it’s message. Color is such an important part of our work, it is helpful to know the meaning colors convey in different cultures. I found this on Information is Beautiful via Jezebel.
Kitson’s Window Diss Display!
It looks like a war of words have been taken to the windows. RadarOnline is reporting, Hollywood boutique Kitson is in a feud with tv personality Jillian Barberie, and is using their store windows as their “weapon” of choice. The windows feature some text graphics letting the shopper know what is In and what is Out!
In:
- Dorothy Lucey (Jillian’s co-host)
- Floral
- Military Chic
- Clogs
- Tribal
Out:
- Jillian Barberie
- See #1
- See #1
- See #1
- See #1
Ooooh, what a complete diss! So what started the feud? Apparently Jillian has been promoting her friend’s store and told viewers to go to that website before going to Robertson’s Blvd. in order to save time. The owner of Kitson (which is on Robertson Blvd.) took this as a diss to all the stores on Robertson’s. You can click here to read the entire story
(image via RadarOnline)
Little MissMatched is a little unneccessary
There is a new retail store that has opened in Anaheim, CA called Little MissMatched. When I saw the photos on VMSD’s website I was intrigued to find out more about this retailer.
It is a brand that is now going retail. They target the ‘tween demographic, who they feel will come to their store to purchase accessories that they can mix-up (never to be matched) however they choose. The store is cute and colorful and I believe will definitely attract it’s target market, but I have to ask is it really necessary?
Haven’t young girls been mismatching socks, earrings, barrettes, even shoes (my friends and I use to wear one pink and one purple Converse sneaker), and everything else since the beginning of time? Do they really need a store to tell them what, and how to do, what they have already been doing with their friends? I find nothing new or innovative about this store idea, all I see is a bunch of girls on MySpace grumbling, “hey we had this idea years ago.” But I get it times are tough and people will do whatever it takes to make a buck.
In my opinion, the whole point and fun of mixing up and having that “eccentric” vibe is because you are breaking the rules in fashion and going against the establishment. Tweens aren’t the only ones who do this, if that were the case, vintage stores and the Olsen twins wouldn’t be as popular as they are and perfect examples of the do as you please mantra.
Fashion mavericks don’t want pre-packaged rebellion, that defeats the point!
(image via Newsweek)
Discuss this Display: class group displays
Our class – Fashion 49 have been presenting their group displays this past few weeks. Students were asked to present four display projects
- Store Window
- Display Cube
- Wall Display
- Table Display
Using pre-selected themes and budget of $80.00 each:
- Pop Culture
- “Eco-friendly”/Green
- any Holiday
- Music
Here are a few photos from some of the students work. Can you determine from the display what the theme is and what “product” they are selling?
Great job Group 3!
Hanging Photos
We hang lots of stuff on walls, don’t we! I used to get so nervous when I had to hang a picture or pictures as backdrops because I never knew if I was doing it right. Was the spacing right? Did the photos line up? How about proportions in relations to the actual display? The questions were numerous.
The only way I learned was through trial and error and reading up on it in design books. I soon learned it’s not about the rules and more about what looks good to the eye. The most important tool (and talent) of the Trimmer – training your “eye”. Here’s a quick article I found in Womans’s Day magazine (April 17, 2010), that I actually thought offered easy tips to get you started:
I Do Windows 
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