Good news for retailers: the National Retail Federation expects holiday retail sales – not counting car, gas and restaurant purchases – in November and December this year to increase up to 4 percent over last year for a total of $678.75 billion to $682 billion, up from $655.8 billion last year. However, turning browsers into buyers all year round can be a challenge for retail environments. Retailers increasingly try to change-up their shops to get buyers off the couch and into their stores. Once in stores, lighting can play a big part in swaying customers’ choices when it comes to products. Many times the importance of lighting at the point of sale is ignored and the focus is on elaborate pa
The Fabrication and Installation of Decor: A Collaborative Project for Off The Wall with Blend Desig
After three years of construction, a new 40,000-square-foot Whole Foods Market has opened in Hoover, Alabama. The developer of the shopping center spent millions of dollars tearing down an old grocery market there and building a brand-new structure in its place. Starting before 7 a.m. on opening day, hundreds of people were lined up for more than 200 yards around the shopping center. Off The Wall is proud to have been part of what Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato described as “possibly the most anticipated store opening since the entire Riverchase Galleria.” Off The Wall Company engineered, fabricated, and installed many of the key elements that make this Whole Foods such a beautiful shopping e
It is likely that after the first sign was ever put up inside a store the first consideration was how to set it apart from its visually busy surroundings. The most effective solution was to simply aim a light at it. This continued to be the practice for many years -- designers assigning particular lights in a store the job of illuminating specific signs. Meanwhile the science of directing light evolved. Louvres on fluorescent fixtures directed some of the diffuse lighting in a particular angle. Track and ceiling floodlights came along that could be more precisely aimed to accent products as well as the signs above them. Narrow beam spotlights controlled the light even more. Hotspots But
