Are You Using These Effective Hospital Gift Shop Display Fixtures?

Hospital gift shops serve important purposes: In addition to offering convenience for hospital visitors who might want to purchase a snack or something to read but don’t want to leave the hospital, they provide the gifts hospital visitors want to purchase for their loved ones.

Therefore, it’s important to use effective hospital gift shop display fixtures that will conveniently and attractively showcase the merchandise within the shop. After all, the people who shop at hospital gift shops generally have more pressing matters to deal with than trying to wade through an unorganized shop to find the items they need.

Clear Plastic Containers and Colored Acrylic Bins

Because of the wide range of shapes, sizes, and styles and the many kinds of merchandise items you can put in them, clear plastic containers and colored acrylic bins are some of the most popular of all display fixtures, so it’s only natural they’d work well as hospital gift shop display fixtures.

You can use clear plastic containers and colored acrylic bins as stand-alone display fixtures on your countertops, or pair them with other display fixtures like wire racks, convenience store racks, and bucket racks for both countertop and floor displays.

Racks for Floor and Countertop Displays

Unless you’re creating a countertop display using only clear plastic containers or colored acrylic bins, chances are you’re going to need some kind of display rack – or racks – for your floor and countertop displays. A few ideas for to get you started include:

• Wire Display Racks: Wire display racks are available in many styles and sizes. For example, you can find spinning wire racks for hanging items, grid display racks for hanging clothing or “baskets” for small merchandise, or wire racks with shelves for displaying stand-alone merchandise or products in plastic containers or acrylic bins.

• Traditional Convenience Store Racks: Like wire display racks, traditional convenience store racks are available in many sizes and styles, but most of them are sturdy enough for holding heavier kinds of merchandise that stands alone.

• Bucket Display Racks: Bucket display racks do just what their name suggests – hold buckets filled with merchandise. These kinds of racks are excellent tools for making the most of whatever space you have to work with, and you can even finding revolving bucket display racks to add convenience for your customers.

Post Card Racks

Post card racks are useful gift shop display fixtures because not only do they hold post cards, but they also hold gift cards, note cards, and inspirational plaques. You can find post card racks small enough for creating countertop displays and tall enough to use as floor displays.

Pre-Filled Display Racks

Not only are pre-filled display racks perfect for busy hospital gift shops and those gift shops that are just getting started, but they also offer some serious versatility and convenience:

• You can find pre-filled display racks filled with wrapped or unwrapped candy.

• You can find pre-filled display racks filled with some novelty toys ideal for both children and adults.

• Pre-filled display racks come in a wide variety of styles and sizes. You can find them for countertop displays or floor displays.

Gumball Machines

Gumball machines are ideal for nearly every kind of retail business – including hospital gift shops! You can find gumball machines in a variety of shapes, sizes, and styles, and you can even fill them with other kinds of merchandise such as small children’s toys like bouncy balls.

Plastic and Acrylic Displays Are Ideal for Showcasing Bulk Candy

Candy stores aren’t the only establishments in the business of selling candy! So many retail locations showcase candy to create additional merchandise for customers, and the most popular – and convenient – places to showcase bulk candy using plastic containers or acrylic bins are your countertop, your floor, and your wall.

Create a Countertop Display

Countertop displays are probably the most popular way to display bulk candies (unless you manage an actual candy store, in which the entire establishment is a display!).

To create a countertop display of bulk candy, you can do one of two things (or, both):

1. Create Your Own: Acrylic bins come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes and you can choose the ones that best fit your countertop and then situate them to create an attractive countertop display.
2. Get Some Help: You can find plastic bucket racks with 6, 8, and 10 buckets designed for showcasing small merchandise like bulk candies on your countertop. You can also use wire racks designed to hold acrylic radeus scoop bins. These racks usually hold a bin on the top shelf and a bin on the bottom shelf, maximizing your display space.
   

Create a Floor Display

Plastic containers and acrylic bins are just as ideal for floor displays as they are for countertop displays, and you can create attractive bulk candy displays on your store’s floor following the same two suggestions:

Consider these two ideas for bulk candy floor displays using acrylic bins:

1. Create Your Own: Creating your own floor display of bulk candy is easy! If you want to use acrylic bins or plastic containers to create bulk candy displays on the floor, you can position the same kinds of acrylic containers you would use for a countertop display on floor display racks. All you need are the acrylic bins best suited for your candy and a display rack designed for floor use. Once you have those tools, you can situate the display rack somewhere on your store’s floor that will offer the best visibility and convenience and then position your acrylic bins on the rack. Presto!
2. Get Some Help: Plastic bucket display racks designed for floor displays can help you quickly and conveniently showcase your bulk candy. These display racks come in fixed position and rotating models and you can find them with as many as 30 acrylic buckets.
   

Create a Wall Display

Walls are often forgotten when it comes to creating store displays, but creating wall displays are ideal ways to make the most of the space within a store.

If you’re considering a wall display for showcasing bulk candy, consider two options:

• Gravity Bins or Dry Food Dispensers: Gravity bins and dry food dispensers (names that are often used interchangeably) are some of the most popular acrylic containers for wall displays and excellent fixtures for holding bulk candy. You’ve probably seen these acrylic wall containers holding food items like dry cereals and coffee; however, gravity bins and dry food dispensers are perfect for displaying unwrapped bulk candies. The closed containers keep the candies clean while they wait for customers, and customers can easily access the amount of candy they want while leaving the rest untouched.
• Funnel Front Bins and Slatwalls: Funnel front acrylic bins fitted to mount to slatwalls generally include candy scoops or rakes (and side slots to hold them) for customers to push candy to a “funnel” and then open a door and catch the candy in a bag or container. Funnel front bins and slatwalls offer a lot of freedom because you can position your bins however high, low, close together, or far apart you want on the slatwall, and they’re generally easy to reposition if you ever want to change your display around.

Create Countertop Displays with Bucket Racks

If you manage any kind of retail business, chances are you have a countertop (or two!). Countertops are where most stores’ checkout registers are located, but they’re also ideal places for merchandise displays.

If you haven’t yet created a countertop display for your store, or you’re looking for ways to spice up the countertop display you currently have, consider using bucket display racks.

Small Merchandise Is Best for Bucket Display Racks

Bucket displays are best for showcasing small merchandise, whether it’s edible merchandise like wrapped candies or non-edible merchandise like novelty toys or convenience items. This works well if you’re choosing racks with buckets for your countertop displays because most stores tend to display smaller items on their countertops and near their registers.

Browse Different Kinds of Bucket Rack Displays

Now that you have an idea about the kinds of merchandise you want to display in the rack’s buckets, it’s time to think about two other facts that will help you as you browse the different kinds of bucket display racks: The amount of merchandise you want to display, and whether you want a stationary or revolving rack.

Even for countertops, bucket racks are available in a variety of sizes and with as few as two buckets or as many as ten buckets. Choose a bucket rack based on how much merchandise you want to display. Racks with few buckets, for example, are ideal for small candy displays, while racks with several buckets are great for creating an elaborate display of a number of common convenience items like key chains, lighters, pens, eyeglass repair kits, and items to keep children busy during long trips like novelty toys, small coloring books, and crayons.

Like their floor counterparts, bucket racks for countertop displays are available in both fixed position and revolving models. Personal preference will most likely help you make your decision. Fixed position racks generally position the buckets side by side and on two or three levels, or “hang” the buckets from wire or metal rods. Revolving bucket racks are great for maximizing your countertop space. When you choose a revolving rack, you’re making use of each of the rack’s sides and making your customers’ shopping experience even more convenient because they can spin the rack to see all the items.

Of course, you must keep your countertop’s size in mind. Choose racks with few buckets if you don’t have much space to work with, or choose revolving racks to make the most of the space your countertop offers.

Not All Buckets Are Plastic: Consider Wooden Basket Racks

Although they’re not typically called “buckets,” wooden baskets and display racks function in much the same way as traditional plastic buckets and containers while adding some extra visual charm to your display.

Like other kinds of bucket displays, you can find both fixed position and revolving wooden display racks. These racks generally come with anywhere from three to eight wooden baskets and are idea for showcasing everything from edible items like candy bars and wrapped gumballs to non-edible items like small children’s toys and travel-sized convenience items and hygiene products.

Select the Best Display Racks for Gift Shops

Whether your gift shop is located in a hospital or a mall, you need the best display racks for showcasing your merchandise. But how do you choose the best display racks?

Below are three factors to consider to help you select the perfect racks for display gift items throughout your shop.

Consider the Merchandise Your Gift Shop Sells

You can’t choose display racks for your merchandise until you consider the merchandise you’re selling.

Glass or plastic containers or fish bowls positioned on display racks work well to hold small kinds of merchandise like candy and novelty toys for children, while larger fixed position convenience store racks are sturdier and can hold heavier gift items like board games, flower vases, and larger stuffed animals. Of course, you don’t have to save your shelf racks for large gift items; you can also mix your containers with stationary display racks to create attractive and convenient displays throughout your store.

Think About How Much Space Your Gift Shop Provides

The amount of space you have to work with will play a big role in choosing merchandise display racks.

Countertop displays are usually ideal for shops of all sizes, but you’ll need to consider the amount of countertop space you have to work with. Small countertops generally lend enough room for one or two large glass or plastic containers, or several small containers, while big countertops offer room for more containers. Regardless of how many containers you want to use and the sizes of those containers, countertop display racks will help you make the most of your space. These racks hold the containers side by side and generally position them on upper and lower levels.

Most every kind of store – whether it’s a gift shop or another kind of retail store – has floor displays. The key is to assess how much floor space your shop offers and, based on that amount of space, choose floor display racks that will both attractively display your merchandise and be convenient for your customers. Tall rotating display racks for floors make the most use of space because customers can rotate them without having to walk around and potentially bump into other displays or customers. Traditional convenience store racks work well for holding heavier gift items, and revolving clip racks are great for holding birthday, anniversary, and sympathy cards.

If your gift shop sells small items that can easily fit in bucket containers, you might want to consider wall display racks. These racks are designed to maximize space by hanging from your shop’s wall, and most wall racks are available with buckets (so you don’t have to choose your own).

Add Extras Based On Your Gift Shop’s Customers

Depending on the kinds of customers your gift shop usually receives, you can find display racks ideal for additional merchandise not usually considered “gifts.”

For example, if your shop tends to attract lots of families with children, you might want to consider adding gumball machines near the entries and exits as well as close to toy displays. You can also find pre-filled lollipop trees perfect for floor and countertop displays, as well as pre-filled bucket display racks that feature small novelty toys for children.

Choosing Racks for Floor and Countertop Displays

Whether it’s a convenience store, bookstore, or gift shop, nearly every kind of retail store uses display racks to showcase its merchandise.

As you’re determining the kind of display racks that will work best for your store, keep three things in mind:

1. The merchandise you plan to display.
2. The amount of display space you have to work with.
3. What will be the most convenient for your customers.
   

1. Consider Your Merchandise

The first thing you should consider as you’re thinking about the kinds of racks to use for your floor and countertop displays is the merchandise you plan to display.

Some items, such as small bags of chips, peanuts, or trail mix, are designed with holes at the top the bags to hang from pegs. Pegboard floor and countertop racks work well for these kinds of merchandise.

Other kinds of items, such as liters and cases of soda, are heavier and work best with traditional convenience store racks with sturdy shelves.

If you plan to display small items like wrapped candies, children’s toys like bouncy balls, or craft items like beads, containers of glitter, or spools of lace, display racks with buckets might work best. Like many display racks, bucket racks are available for both floor and countertop displays and designed to hold as few as four buckets or as many as thirty buckets.

2. Consider Your Display Space

Considering your display space will help you determine whether you need to use fixed position or revolving displays, and whether those displays would work best on the floor or on your countertop.

No matter what kind of rack you want to use, chances are you can find it in a model that will work best with the space you have to work with. Most racks for displays are designed with two versions in mind: One that will work well for countertop displays and one that will work well for floor displays.

For example, you can find both fixed position bucket racks and bucket racks that rotate. The same is true for traditional convenience store racks, wire display racks, and pegboard racks.

3. Consider Your Customers’ Convenience

In the end, no matter how attractive your display is and no matter how well it works with the flow and space of your store, if it’s inconvenient for customers, it’s a failure.

Follow these tips to make sure you showcase your items in a way that’s as convenient for customers as possible:

• If you’re using fixed position racks, make sure the side that doesn’t hold any merchandise is facing away from the customers. For countertop racks, this means the empty side should face your side of the counter. For floor racks, this means situating the empty side against or close to a wall or another stationary display.

• If you’re using rotating racks, make sure the racks are situated far enough away from other displays that customers can easily spin the racks without the merchandise getting caught on other items.

• Regardless of what kind of rack you use, make sure it’s never situated in a place that blocks a customer’s path.

Showcasing Merchandise: Fixed Position Versus Rotating Display Racks

Racks designed for countertop displays and floor displays are available in a wide variety of shapes, styles, and sizes and perfect for retail businesses, restaurants and specialty food shops, bookstores, gift shops, and hospitality establishments like hotels and motels.

It’s important to think about the kind of merchandise you want to display as you’re considering the kind of display racks you should choose for your business. Obviously, small and lightweight items will work well with small display racks, while larger and heavier items will work best with larger, sturdier display racks.

However, you must also consider the amount of display space you have to work with, and this is when you need to think about whether fixed position display racks or rotating display racks will work best.

Using Fixed Position Display Racks

Fixed position display racks are ideal for both countertop displays and floor displays.

If you want to use a fixed position rack for countertop displays:

• Choose a rack designed to showcase merchandise on only one side. Some fixed position display racks are designed to hold merchandise on all sides, and these racks are inconvenient if you plan to situate them on your checkout register’s countertop because customers can’t move to the other side.

• Choose lightweight items you can easily display on the particular fixed position rack you’re using. For example, some fixed position countertop racks are designed to hold plastic containers or buckets, and some are designed to hang merchandise from pegs.

If you want to use a fixed position rack for floor displays:

• Choose a rack designed to showcase merchandise on just one side, or on three sides (depending on where you plan to situate your rack).

• Situate your rack in a place where the back of the rack isn’t visible, such as against a wall or at the end of an aisle rather than in the center of your store.

• Feel free to choose either lightweight or heavier items to display on your rack. Some fixed position floor racks are designed to hold plastic containers and bucks or hang items on pegs, just like countertop racks, and some are designed with sturdy shelves for display heavier and larger items like family-sized bags of chips and liters or cases of soda.

Using Rotating Display Racks

Like fixed position display racks, you can find rotating display racks designed for both countertop displays and floor displays and perfect for either small and lightweight merchandise or large and heavier merchandise.

Still, there are a few points you should keep in mind as you’re determining whether revolving display racks will work for your display.

• Spinning display racks are best situated in open spaces where the merchandise is least likely to get caught on anything as your customers rotate it to see each side.

• Like fixed display racks, there are revolving display racks designed to be sturdy enough to hold heavy merchandise. However, you must be careful not to overstock the rack; otherwise, the rack will be at risk for toppling over and possibly harming customers. If you want to display quite heavy items, choose a fixed position display rack.

• Be careful about display items on top of the rack, as these items could fall off as customers rotate the rack. If your spinning display rack has a flat surface at the top, it’s best to either leave that space clear or – at the very most – securely fasten a display sign on it.

3 Tips for Using Wire Display Racks

Wire display racks are some of the most common display tools available to store and business owners. They’re generally lightweight, versatile, durable, and lend themselves to a wide variety of uses for an even wider variety of businesses.

Consider these kinds of stores and businesses that use wire display racks as you’re determining whether they’d be the right display tool for you:

• Convenience stores, gas stations, and grocery stores of both the “mom-and-pop” and national chain varieties.

• Specialty food shops like candy stores, yogurt shops, ice cream parlors, and bakeries.

• Specialty retail shops like accessories boutiques, toy stores, bookstores, gift shops, and hobby shops.

• Movie theaters and movie rental businesses.

• Travel and hospitality industry businesses like hotels and motels.

1. Use the Wire Rack Designed for Your Display Location

The two most popular places for displays in any kind of retail business are:

1. The countertops (which usually puts them close to the registers).
2. Somewhere on the business’s floor (generally at the ends of aisles, near deli-style areas, close to the countertops and registers, and sometime near the business’s entryways).
   

Wire display racks designed for countertop displays and near registers are great ways to make the most of your countertop space while providing your customers with an attractive, convenient selection of merchandise. You can place merchandise like bags of chips and trail mix directly on the rack’s shelves, or you can display edible merchandise like wrapped candies and gumballs or non-edible items like pens, key chains, and lighters in plastic containers situated on the rack’s shelves.

Wire display racks designed for floor displays are basically larger, more durable versions of the countertop display racks. You can use these racks for the same kinds of purposes, or you can display larger merchandise like liters and cases of soda.

2. Match Your Wire Display Racks with Your Permanent Displays

Because countertop displays tend to include add-on merchandise for customers to see as they’re checking out, this tip especially applies if you plan to use wire display racks designed for floor displays.

Chances are the bulk of your business’s merchandise sits on larger, more permanent shelves throughout your store. Wire display racks designed for floor use are great ways to compliment your permanent displays and offer extra convenience to your customers.

For example, if your store sells full-sized hygiene products like shampoo, soap, lotion, toothpaste, hairspray, and deodorant, you can use a wire rack to create a display of travel- or trial-sized hygiene products and position it close to your permanent shelf.

3. Create Mobile Displays with Rolling Wire Display Racks

To attract potential customers walking by, some store’s regularly showcase merchandise outside the establishment’s doors, while some business’s have occasional “sidewalk sales.”

Rolling wire display racks make it easy for storeowners to move their merchandise outside at the store’s opening and back inside once the store closes. For these purposes, you can find a wide variety of wire rack styles, from racks designed to hang apparel to racks designed to hold cases of soda.

Find the Perfect Wire Display Rack for Your Store

Standard wire display racks are some of the most common racks stores and businesses use to display their merchandise. Regardless of what kind of store or business you operate, chances are you can use wire display racks to showcase an assortment of items.

Not convinced? Consider these examples of establishments that regularly utilize these display racks:

• Convenience stores and gas stations often use wire racks to display snack items and cases or liter bottles of soda as well as nonfood items like magazines.

• Grocery stores can use wire racks in similar ways, and might even use them to separate, organize, and display product specials or items on sale.

• Specialty shops, like gift shops, hobby shops, and even bakeries, ice cream parlors, and yogurt shops often use these racks to display clear plastic containers filled with small merchandise or toppings for treats.

• Hotels and motels use floor and countertop wire racks to offer guests local and national newspapers, magazines, and travel guides.

• Toy stores can use these racks to display stuffed animals, toys sealed in lightweight boxes or plastic containers filled with small toys and figurines.

• Bookstores commonly display lightweight merchandise like bookmarks, calendars, and magazines on these racks.

Find Wire Display Racks in an Assortment of Classic Colors

Every store or business has its own color scheme, theme, or “décor”, and wire display racks are available in an assortment of colors to help owners match their racks to the rest of their displays. Some of the most popular colors for these racks include classic black, white, and red. While owners can find these display racks in a variety of other bright, fun colors, these classic colors often offer storeowners the most convenient options and attractive selections that are sure to match their stores’ color scheme or overall décor.

Look for Wire Display Racks an a Variety of Sizes

The available sizes of wire display racks only add to their convenience, and perhaps the two most common sizes of these display racks are those designed for floor displays and countertop displays.

• Floor Racks: Floor model wire racks are excellent tools for better organizing your store’s merchandise as well as making the most of the floor space you have to work with. Many businesses use these floor wire racks to display everything from food items like large bags of chips and liters or cases of soda to nonfood items like magazines and hygiene products.

• Countertop Racks: You can find the same kinds of wire racks designed for floor displays in smaller versions perfect for countertop displays. These display racks are designed to function just like their floor counterparts do, offering wire shelf space and room for displaying merchandise like small bags of snacks or candy in small plastic containers, and are ideal for stores or businesses that either have ample countertop space to work with, or want to make the most of the limited space their countertops offer.

As you can see, no matter how much space your store offers, there’s a wire rack sized perfectly for your display needs!