Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
fronts
Hold the
rowds
By FRED E. KUNKEL
Color and style
are the dominant
selling appeal, and
so naturally modern
merchandising
de-
mands, as never be-
fore, a new kind of
stage setting. The
most s u c c e s s f u l
music merchants are
therefore
adopting
the new display re-
quirements for style
and color merchan-
the reason. It is because he has
not been keeping step with
changing merchandising condi-
tions, and his difficulty in main-
taining sales volume or in annex-
ing a bigger share of the public's
spending budget is largely his
own fault.
The modern merchandising age
is one of fast changing trends and
(me notable recent change is ob-
servable in the more modernized
store front which is being in-
augurated to increase the sales
power of the store location by
captivating the eye of the passer-
by diverting their footsteps, and
excii'ng their admiration to the
buying point.
A modern store front invar-
iably catches the attention of
passersby, while the old style
front compels no attention at all.
People will not even stop to look at them. The
new ornamental designs now available for store
fronts not only enhance the architectural beauty
of the store as an artistic frame to set off its
distinguishing features—the window displays,
but they also help to identify the music mer-
chant as being modern and up-to-snuff.
Smart bronze bulkheads, ornamental transom
bars and pilasters, combined with unique
methods of embellishing metal, make distinctive
store fronts to-day which grip the public eye
and naturally focus attention to the suggestions
thrown out in window displays to encourage
shopping within the music merchant's own
doors.
tendency in store fronts to-day is to have a
much shorter front and a greater depth, in
recognition of the human psychology that
people who are standing out in front on the
sidewalk, when jostled by passersby and are
otherwise annoyed by the passing traffic, will
naturally move on without drinking in the dis-
play, whereas by drawing them into your lobby
or aisle displays, and by getting them away
from the passing crowds, it is not only possible
to center their minds on what is being dis-
played in the windows, but also to appeal to
their spending proclivities, and by staging a
more successful window trim you can get them
to take more time to look in and take in every-
thing that is to be seen, thus working on their
sub-conscious minds and driving home a smash- ,
ing sales message without their being aware of
it—so efficiently docs the entire
staging work.
The island window, or battery
of island windows, is fast gain-
ing headway because with the
unit display system a small, com-
pact unit group of merchandise
of the same kind can be dis-
played by itself in one pattern or
at one price, or in one color, to
put over a more effective sales
story in more compact space, and
with far better results than when
mixed in with a long window dis-
play which caters to the custom-
er's attention in a variety of units.
The lobby idea, broad and deep
store fronts, with ample window
displays, is also gaining headway,
and much of the store space
{Continued
dising in keeping
with the spirit of
t h e s e changing
t i m e s for good
store fronts and
good window dis-
plays are s i l e n t
salesmen, because
they c a t c h the
eye of passersby
and flash a quick
selling story in
colorful and fas-
cinating pictures.
One noticeable
on fuge 41)