What are you featuring in your windows and front zone displays right now? Have you restyled them to reflect the season, new merchandise, and new inspiration? It's simple to refresh existing merchandise to look new and appealing to customers...

It's important to get a fresh start after the holidays - your customers will be coming in with gift cards, gift certs, and money they received, and they deserve to see fresh new ideas. Inspiring them to buy what you offer can be as simple as taking what you already have and combining it in a new way to reflect the season...

Seeing the first Christmas ad of the year is a lot like seeing your first gray hair - it's a wake-up call.  It's become almost cliché to acknowledge how early Christmas envelopes our advertisements, circulars, and window displays, but every year it seems that the twinkling lights and singing snowmen work their way closer and closer to summertime as businesses look to start the holiday rush early. 

Pre-Halloween Christmas displays aren't as crazy as you'd think.   A John Lewis store in Hampshire, England put up its Christmas display in September.  By doing this, they've made headlines.  And as they say, any publicity is good publicity.

So while an early Christmas display might bring some novelty to your storefront, it might also seem a bit overbearing (especially in economic times such as these).  Now might be the time to start planning for your storefront's holiday décor. 

The scariest month is upon us - no, not February when the bitter wind chill makes even the most active consumer a bit sluggish - but October.  Halloween is a month away, so it's time to get in the decorating mood.  I find myself feeling more connected more to a retailer who has put up decorations in the front window.  Fake spiders, cotton-ball cobwebs and bloody hands in your storefront go a long way.  While sure, it reminds customers of the holiday fast approaching, it more importantly makes your store more welcoming.

How are your plans for Holiday 2009 coming along? Yes, I said the H word. Holiday. 'Where did summer go?' I hear you gasping!

This recent Racked article illustrates how not to design a store window display. Leave it up to the big-box Barneys to cause a stir among innocent sidewalk passersby.

Is it worth it to revamp your business environment? From a small improvement like new paint or a restaging of the contents to a full-scale remodel of a facility, I can unequivocally say YES. Investing time, effort, and sometimes money into your environment can present your business, services, and products to the public in a whole new way - creating opportunity for success.

Over the past week, I've been working with a local retail client on a Retail ReDesign. We've completely redefined their brand image, and are expressing it through our choices for environment, display, and logo design. It's all about using what they have to maximize their visual impact and their bottom line: for the most part, we haven't spent anything more than a few bucks on a can of paint!

TWO DRIVING FORCES:

• HOME ENTERTAINMENT: BRING IT HOME!
• BRIDAL OFFERINGS ARE BEING EMPHASIZED

The TRENDS:

COLOR, IT IS BRIGHT, FULL SPECTRUM, UNUSUAL COMBOS, AND NEW SHADES.  As Martha Stewart says "we are in love with color".

On the road again, I found myself in Woodstock NY, a vibrant, creative, little community that has bumper to bumper traffic in the summer months with the city people exploring the country and all its charms. So, for the off season what I found, surprisingly, the traffic was standing still bumper to bumper on this  Saturday; however, I heard that during the week, reality is the usual seasonal slow down.