Articles and Newsletters


Thursday, February 4, 2010

Use Jelly Beans to Increase Your Store’s Profit and Have Fun with Displays

Jelly Beans are classic candies that span the ages, and creating a Jelly Bean display in your store is a great way to increase your profit while having some fun!

The even better news is that Jelly Bean displays work well in nearly every kind of store. Candy stores, grocery stores, bookstores, toy stores, gas stations and convenience stores – they all have room for Jelly Bean displays.

Before you become too excited, however, you need to make a few preparations; namely, you need to choose where in your store you want to create the display, what kinds of candy containers you want to use to display the candy, and exactly what kinds of Jelly Beans you want to include.

Step #1: Choose Your Display Space

You don’t want to order your Jelly Beans and then just throw up a display anywhere you can find room. To make help increase your store’s profit, you need to display your Jelly Beans somewhere where customers can easily see and access them, and ideally near similar kinds of candy.

Do you want to create a countertop display? A floor display? A wall display? Do you want your Jelly Bean display to be modest or large? These are the kinds of questions you need to answer before you can move on to the next step: Choosing the acrylic containers you’ll use to display the Jelly Beans.

Step #2: Choose Acrylic Bins to Display Jelly Beans

Acrylic containers are usually the best choice for displaying unwrapped candy, and for some storeowners it’s the only choice: Many state health departments require them to display unwrapped candy in acrylic containers.

Fortunately, there are plenty of fun acrylic bins to choose from. Consider acrylic round face bins and acrylic mini bins, great for both countertop and table displays and complete with acrylic scoops to help your customers access the Jelly Beans they want. You might want to check out acrylic gravity bins, which help you save space and help keep the candy untouched, or you might want to add some flair to your displays with acrylic candy towers or gumball machines.

Step #3: Choose Your Jelly Beans

Now that you know how and where you want to situate your Jelly Bean display, it’s time to order the actual Jelly Beans!

Naturally, you’ll want to order the candy from a wholesaler, but before you submit an order form with the first company you run across, be sure to shop around. Ordering from a candy wholesaler helps you get the most bang for your buck, but shopping around for the company that offers exactly what you need at the best price for your budget helps stretch your dollar even further.

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Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Candy Store Owners: Attractively Display Your Jelly Belly Candy

Whether you're opening your first store or you've been in the retail business for a while, you might not realize there's a difference between plastic candy containers and acrylic candy containers. For some, this misunderstanding isn't a big deal; for others, however, it is. Some candy stores are required by their state health departments to display unwrapped candy, like Jelly Belly candy, with acrylic containers.

Fortunately, there are plenty of attractive, functional, and convenient acrylic containers to choose from!

Acrylic Round Face Bins

Just as the name suggests, acrylic round face bins have a round “face” that’s actually a hinged lid customers can roll to open and that keeps your candy fresh and safe from dust and debris. Most of these kinds of bins come with a side slot designed to hold an acrylic, plastic, or metal scoop so customers can access the candy and retrieve the amount they want without contaminating the rest of it.

To add even more convenience, acrylic round face bins are available in versions designed to sit on your countertop or table display and versions designed to hang from your slatwall fixtures.

Acrylic Mini Bins

Acrylic mini bins are similar to round face bins with two differences: Their hinged lids aren’t round and, true to their name, they’re much smaller. Mini bins are perfect for displaying Jelly Belly candy in stores that aren’t dedicated to selling only candy, or for stores that want to create a small candy display in limited space.

Like round face bins, most mini bins are complete with slots to hold candy scoops.

Acrylic Candy Towers

Acrylic candy towers make creating a candy display fun! These kinds of “tubed” candy bins are available in a variety of heights as well in half-round and full-round models, which give you the freedom to mix and match and create your own look.

Acrylic candy towers work best for countertop candy displays or displays situated on any other kind of sturdy, flat surface.

Acrylic Gravity Bins

Acrylic gravity bins are amazing space savers. Like round face bins, you can find them in both countertop display and wall display versions.

If you’re not quite sure what an acrylic gravity bin is, think of the kinds of bins stores, hotels, and restaurants use to display food products like coffee beans and grinds, cereal, and trail mix – the kinds of bins that release the product when you turn a lever. (Generally, these kinds of gravity bins don’t require candy scoops).

Of course, those aren’t the only kinds of gravity bins – some don’t require levers. Instead, gravity works to keep the base of the container full. These kinds of gravity bins work best with scoops.

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Friday, January 1, 2010

Choosing Merchandise for Antique Wicker Basket Display Racks

Antique wicker basket display racks are excellent display fixtures for store managers and owners who want a display fixture that will not only be functional and convenient for customers but also one that will add a bit of charm and rustic elegance to their store’s appearance, and choosing merchandise for these kinds of basket display racks is similar to choosing merchandise for any other display fixture: You must think about the kinds of merchandise your store sells, the size of your fixtures, and the location of your display.

Think About the Kinds of Merchandise Your Store Sells

The first thing you must do as you’re choosing which merchandise to display in your antique wicker basket display racks is think about the kinds of merchandise your store sells.

Wicker baskets are fairly sturdy, but it’s always best to be safe rather than sorry; therefore, you should make sure you display fairly small and relatively lightweight items. Some stores and businesses won’t have any trouble; convenience stores, for example, can display anything from food items like small bags of chips and candy bars and other sweet treats to nonfood items like matchbooks, lighters, key chains, travel-sized containers of hygiene products, and other convenience items like eyeglass repair kits. Bookstores, on the other hand, might have to dig a little deeper to find small enough and lightweight enough items such as bookmarks and paperback novels on sale or clearance.

Think About the Size of Your Wicker Baskets and Merchandise

As noted above, small and lightweight merchandise tends to work best with antique wicker basket display racks; however, there are many different styles of these racks, and the amount and kind of merchandise you display will depend on the style of your display racks.

For example, if your rack includes one or two wicker baskets, you might want to create a simple display of sweet treats or other snacks in your store’s point-of-purchase, or POP, display area that your customers can grab on their way through the checkout aisle. If your rack includes three or four wicker baskets, you might want to create a produce display showcasing various fruits and vegetables.

Think About the Location of Your Display

The location of your display will play an important role as you choose merchandise for your antique wicker basket display racks.

For example, if you choose to situate your display in your store’s POP display area near the checkout counter and register, then you’ll want to choose common kinds of POP merchandise. Such merchandise includes small, convenient items that your customers might not pick up as they’re making their way through their store, but might be interested in as they’re standing in your checkout aisle. These kinds of items include bubble gum and chewing gum, candy bars and other sweet treats, and convenience or novelty items like matchbooks, lighter, key chains, or small children’s toys.

However, you might also want to consider situating your racks somewhere else on your store’s main floor. For example, you can place them in your store’s food section and fill them with fresh produce or small bags of snacks, or you can place them in your store’s footwear section and fill them with socks, eggs of pantyhose or knee-highs, or shoe inserts. Depending on the kind of merchandise your store sells, the possibilities nearly reach the sky!

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Adding Charm to Your Store With Antique Wicker Basket Display Racks

When it comes to display fixtures for retail stores, restaurants, and various other business establishments, the pickings are anything but slim. Business owners and managers can choose from simple, yet effective, stand-alone fixtures like plastic containers and bucket display racks, as well as more elaborate displays like pre-filled candy racks and wooden display tables.

No matter what kind of business you manage, if you want to add a little charm to your merchandise displays, consider using antique wicker basket display racks. These racks are designed to be both functional and convenient, and they add a rustic elegance to your merchandise displays that other traditional fixtures can’t pull off.

Choose a Display Space That Offers Your Customers’ Convenience

Before you choose your antique wicker basket display racks, you must decide where you’re going to situate the racks.

Obviously, you must choose a space that’s going to be convenient for your customers, but you might also want to consider how these displays can help further increase your sales. For example, small versions of the wicker display racks situate nicely in point-of-purchase, or POP, display areas near your store’s checkout counter.

Decide Which Merchandise to Display With the Antique Wicker Basket Display Racks

Antique wicker basket display racks are excellent fixtures for displaying everything from convenience items to produce, and because you can find them with as few as one basket and as many as four baskets, it’s easy to showcase as much, or as little, merchandise as you want.

Grocery stores might want to use these baskets and racks to display fresh produce like fruits and vegetables, or they might want to situate them in their bakery sections to display packages of fresh bread and other baked goods. Specialty food shops like bakeries can use these racks to display individual or bulk packages of bread items like rolls or biscuits, or treats like muffins or brownies.

Of course, establishments that don’t necessarily specialize in, but still sell, food products can use these wicker display racks, too. Hotels and motels, for example, can use them in their dining areas to offer their guests packages of food items, while convenience stores can use them to display both food products like candy bars and small bags of chips and nonfood products like key chains, lighters, matchbooks, and travel-sized containers of hygiene products.

Retail establishments that don’t specialize in food can use these fixtures to display nearly any kind of lightweight merchandise item. For example, craft and hobby stores might use them to display small vials and packages of beads, glitter, sequins, or glue, while bookstores might use them to display bookmarks or small boxes containing reading lights.

Get Familiar With the Different Kinds of Antique Wicker Basket Display Racks

Whether you want to situate your display somewhere on your store’s main floor or closer to your store’s checkout counter in the POP display area, various wholesalers and other vendors offer a wide variety of antique wicker basket display racks perfect for you – all you have to do is choose the types that will work best with your display space and your merchandise!

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Thursday, December 31, 2009

Turning Traditional Display Fixtures Into Art Supply Holders

Because there are various kinds of display fixtures specifically designed to showcase art supplies, it’s pretty easy for a store manager or owner to find the display fixture or fixtures perfect for showcasing almost any kind of art supply. For example, mobile scrapbook racks and slot paper racks are designed with scrapbooking and other art and hobby supplies in mind.

However, display tools specifically designed for showcasing a particular art supply aren’t always necessary. There are numerous kinds of fixtures out there that can hold a wide variety of merchandise types – these fixtures wear many hats, so to speak.

If you’re just now starting an art supply display in your store, check out the six display fixtures below. Chances are, you might already have several of them on hand – and if you don’t, ordering them means you can use them later for other kinds of displays!

Plastic Containers

You probably already know that plastic containers are some of the most common – and popular – retail display fixtures around. This is because plastic containers are durable, versatile, and convenient, and they’re available in a variety of shapes, sizes, styles, and even in both clear and colored versions.

Plastic containers work well to hold small kinds of art supplies, such as small paint brushes and writing utensils, rolls of stickers, packets of glitter and sequins, and even small tubes of paint and glue.

Acrylic Round Face Bins

Acrylic round face bins are a version of plastic containers, but pack enough extra punch to get a category of their own. These acrylic bins include hinged lids and attached scoops, and while they’re generally used as display fixtures for food products like unwrapped candy, yogurt and ice cream toppings, and gumballs, they’re great for displaying and allowing your customers easy access to art supplies like loose beads.

Bucket Display Racks

Bucket display racks actually combine two different display fixtures – plastic buckets for holding merchandise and display racks for holding the buckets!

You can use bucket display racks as art supply display fixtures much the same way you can use plastic containers. Small kinds of art supplies work best with these fixtures, and the racks allow you to situate the display nearly anywhere in your store where there’s space enough for the rack.

Pegboard Display Racks and Accessories

Pegboard display racks and their accessories, such as pegboard hooks, trays, and bins and buckets, work in similar ways to bucket display racks in that they provide both the fixtures to hold the art supplies and the means to hold those fixtures.

Because of the wide variety of accessories that work with pegboard display racks, there are plenty of options when it comes to which art supplies to display. Pegboard hooks allow you to display merchandise designed to (or included in packaging designed to) hang, while the trays and bins allow you to display small and moderately sized art supplies that need to “sit” in a container.

Wooden and Wicker Baskets and Racks

Think of wooden and wicker baskets and racks as the charming cousin of the bucket display rack. These fixtures, which are available in both fixed-position and rotating versions, can hold fairly sizeable art supplies and add charm to your store at the same time!

Table Displays

Table displays are excellent choices when you plan to use stand-alone fixtures such as plastic containers and acrylic round face bins. These tables are usually available with two or three tabletops and in a variety of “wood” colors, which also helps them add as much charm and visual appeal to your art supply display as wooden or wicker baskets and racks.

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Wednesday, December 30, 2009

How to Choose Scrapbook Display Racks for Your Store

If you own or manage a store that sells art supplies, or you’re getting ready to open a store that will sell such supplies, chances are you might want to include scrapbook supplies in your inventory. Scrapbooking is an extremely popular hobby among people of all ages, and it only makes sense to deliver what those customers need.

However, figuring out HOW to create a scrapbook supply display might be a bit tougher than just deciding you WANT to create one.

Below are five steps to help you create a scrapbook display with the right supplies and racks for you.

Step One: Get Familiar With Your Scrapbook Supplies

Before you can do anything else, you must get familiar with your store’s scrapbook merchandise. What do you already sell? What do you want to start selling? The answers to these questions will help you when it’s time to choose your display racks.

Step Two: Take Inventory of Your Store’s Other Art Supplies

Note that your store might already have art supplies that, while they aren’t specifically targeted at scrapbookers, are still appropriate for scrapbooking purposes. Such supplies might include vials of glitter, small rolls of decorated tape or stickers, sheets of stencils, glue, scissors, rulers, and markers, colored pencils, and other writing utensils. Making use of the art supplies your store already has is a great way to expand your scrapbook display – and, if your store doesn’t focus solely on art supplies and doesn’t have any of these kinds of items, it might be time to go ahead and invest in them.

Step Three: Choose Your Scrapbook Display Space

Now that you know which supplies you want to display, it’s time to choose where in your store you want to create the display. It’s easier to select the scrapbook display racks you need (and want) when you know exactly how much space you have to work with.

Once you choose your display space, a good way to get familiar with it is to physically situate yourself in the space. Take measurements, block off the area that will represent the display racks, and then walk around to see if your customers will have enough space to comfortably move around.

Step Four: Shop Around for Scrapbook Display Racks

The best way to shop around for scrapbook display racks is to treat the situation like you would when you shop around for anything – find several sellers and spend some time comparing their products and prices.

Of course, you should also keep in mind that while there are fixtures out there specifically labeled as “scrapbook display racks,” there are plenty of other fixtures that also work well to showcase scrapbooking materials. Bucket display racks, for example, are great for organizing and displaying small items like tubes of glitter or rolls of stickers.

Step Five: Order Only the Display Racks You Know You Need

This step should come as no surprise, but if you’re searching for advice on how to choose scrapbook display racks for your store, chances are you’re new to the scrapbooking business and you might get a bit overzealous (or feel you need to be overprepared) when it’s time to order your racks.

While it’s generally better to be “overdressed” than “underdressed,” in this situation – when your money is on the line – it’s best to order only the display racks you know for sure you’ll need. Once you create your display and spend some time gauging your customers’ responses and demands, you can always expand!

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Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Understanding the Different Kinds of Scrapbook Display Racks

Scrapbooking is an extremely popular hobby among a wide variety of people, and numerous kinds of stores – from large chain retail stores like Wal-Mart and Target to smaller chain and even mom-and-pop art supply stores – make sure they cater to customers’ needs for this pastime.

If you’re establishment sells scrapbook materials (or art supplies that can double as scrapbook materials), or you’re thinking of incorporating them, get familiar with the various kinds of display racks you can use so you’ll be aware of the kinds of fixtures you can use that will work well with both the amount of display space you have and the amount of merchandise you’re selling.

Note that this isn’t a comprehensive list of scrapbook display racks – there are many varieties out there, as well as many common display fixtures that can work to display scrapbook materials. However, these are a few of the most convenient tools for displaying scrapbook materials to help get you started.

Slot Paper Shelves and Racks

Slot Paper Shelves

Slot paper shelves are designed to work with slot paper racks (see below) to organize and display various kinds of paper or sheets of other kinds of scrapbook supplies (such as stencils or stickers) in a way that’s convenient for both you and your customers. You can find slot paper shelves that include as few as one or as many as three “slots” of various sizes for holding paper, which makes it easy for you to create a scrapbook supply display no matter how many supplies your store sells.

Slot Paper Racks

Slot paper racks are the display racks designed to hold slot paper shelves. Just like you can with the shelves, you can find slot paper racks in various sizes as well as in both floor or “tower” models and countertop models.

Mobile Scrapbook Centers

You can almost think of mobile scrapbook centers as your customers’ one-stop shop for scrapbook supplies.

These kinds of display fixtures include on-roll shelves that allow you to display rolls of merchandise such as stickers; slot paper shelves for organizing and displaying sheets of paper, stickers, or stencils; sturdier flat metal racks for showcasing heavier items such as entire packs of paper or the books themselves; and “catch all” baskets designed to hold nearly any item the other fixtures can’t easily display such as tubes of clue or containers of glitter or sequins.

Bucket Display Racks

Because of how versatile and convenient they are, bucket display racks are actually found in many different kinds of retail establishments. It’s also for those reasons that bucket displays work so well to showcase scrapbook materials.

You can find bucket displays in a variety of styles and sizes, including racks designed specifically for floor or countertop displays, and with a wide range of bucket numbers. You can use bucket displays to organize and display many kinds of scrapbook items such as rolls of stickers, tubes of glue and glitter, markers and other writing utensils, and even small packets of stencils or stickers.

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