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TopShelf

Linda Cahan -- Gifts and Dec, 12/1/2011 2:00:00 AM

Oh the joy - and challenges of flat surfaces. Shelves, cubes and tables are the way 90 percent of gifts and decorative accessories are merchandised and displayed. The feeling and style of how you set up your merchandise and displays are what set your store apart from your competitors and neighbors.
     The way you merchandise your store also shows your customers what they may be able to do in their own homes. If the style of your displays resonates with them, they will want to take your ideas and replicate or adapt them on one of their own shelves or tables.
     Therein lays the challenge: how to make a bunch of assorted "stuff" look fabulous in your store. Merchandising by color is the number one way to make a shelf or flat surface sing. Next, varying heights suggest a visual flow. Add in the balance of lights and darks, as well as shapes and textures, and you've created an interesting and compelling flat surface display.
     Crowded and overlapped merchandise often creates a feeling of abundance, while sparse, spare and spaced merchandise feels more contemporary and design-like. Very often the same customer will shop at both styles of stores.

The combination of smooth, spiky, soft and hard works in this assorted grouping found at Charisma Gifts in Newport, OR.
	Easy Flow This unit at Jovi in Newport, OR, is an almost monochromatic merchandise statement with white, stone and rattan acting as accents. A zig-zag pattern is set up thanks to the blue and white fabric spilling out of the blue glass bowl, which moves the eye down to the deep blue Ikat pattern at the bottom. The hanging bathrobe does nothing to distract from the display.
Focal Point Note in this balanced shelf display at Jovi how the angle of the wine bottle leads the eye into the silvered shell vase and then to the collection of pieces in front. The repetition of the plates both in the back and stacked in front adds depth to the display and I love how they work with the black and white shakers. The Dough book pulls it all together.
	Color Burst A perfect balance of colors, shapes and textures is made even better by the use of the angled folded blankets at Woonwinkle in Portland, OR. The jars naturally fall into a triangular pattern and in doing so create more angles and equally more movement. The three black pieces add a balance of dark to the brights.
Perfect Squares Shelf-by-shelf, merchandise unfolds into separate stories. When you stand back and look at this unit at Jovi, you see an overall picture of glass and ceramic pieces. When you step a little closer, each "square" tells its own story. By adding a textural neutral - the corks, sisal and color on the book - and white, the shelves are visually connected and balanced.

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