Thanks for Thanksgiving

Families will soon gather with friends and neighbors to celebrate the beginnings of America. Of course, today's Thanksgiving has little to do with history; over the centuries, we have created our own meanings and traditions. And one Thanksgiving tradition that most hostesses have to deal with is "visit mentality." This state consists of frantic house cleaning, decorating, renovating, serving-set gathering, and an all-around buying frenzy. It's a perfect scenario for gift store owners, and there are many ways in which you can profit from it.

A good visual merchandiser will first identify all the merchandise that is geared toward the occasion. This includes place settings, cutlery, china, glassware, linens, and decorative accessories. Equally important are affordable gift items for guests to give to their hosts.

Carve out a prime section of your store to house this Thanksgiving grouping. The front of the store is generally the seasonal "swing section." The new, exciting merchandise should greet customers when they walk into your store. If the front area of your store won't work for seasonal gifts, study your traffic flow. Which way do customers walk once they enter? Find your "power aisle" — the main pathway through your store.

Once you have identified your store's traffic patterns, you can determine where your seasonal merchandise belongs. The fact that something has always been in a certain spot doesn't mean it has to stay there. Let it go! Don't get overly attached to particular sections of your store. If you want to improve your sales, move sections around from time to time to generate more energy, because energy generates sales.

Here are some ideas on how to create the right ambience for your TFT (Thanks for Thanksgiving) section. The relative cost of each option is noted by dollar signs.

1. If you have spotlights in the TFT section, replace some of the bulbs with amber and orange lights. ($)

2. If you don't have enough spotlights, buy some specifically for this purpose. ($$)

3. Cover display fixture surfaces with velvet (rust, burgundy, or deep green in color), stretched and glued to foam core or homosote boards that have been cut to fit. ($$)

4. Use electric candles to light your tabletop displays and add atmosphere. ($$)

5. Add harvest florals to displays to act as color spots. ($$)

6. Hang fabric from the ceiling to create a totally different look. Following are some suggestions. ($$)

Fabric Idea A: Buy "silky" polyesters in fall colors to create banners. Stick to three colors to keep the display from looking too busy. Cut the fabric into either equal or different lengths of fabric (from two and a half feet to four feet for normal nine-foot ceilings). Sew a sleeve onto one end to hold a wooden dowel, and seam the bottom of the fabric to finish it. Add eye hooks to both ends of the dowel, and slide it through the pocket. Now hang the banners flush to the ceiling. Color, softness, and movement are what you are going for. (See illustration at left.)

Fabric Idea B: Hang the fabric from the ceiling down to the tabletop. You can even let it fall gracefully onto the table and spread it out. (See illustration at right.)

Fabric Idea C: Use a wonderful fabric with a "gauzy" deep color and hang it from the ceiling so that it falls between two tables. This wall of fabric will allow you to do displays with completely different patterns on adjacent tabletops. (See illustration at top of page 28.)

7. Hang a lighted candelabra over a dining room table set with a selection of your best settings. ($$$)

8. Highlight the entire TFT section with an area rug. Use fall colors, leaf patterns, or an Oriental or neutral rug bordered in burnt orange. ($$$)

9. Create an entire room setting, using furniture for fixtures. Put down a rug, display merchandise on a sideboard, and display different place settings at each seat. Other accessories can be draped over the chairs. Another table could be used to show gift items for guests to bring to Thanksgiving dinner. ($, if you have the furniture; $$$$$, if you don't.)

• Plain banners are elegant; however, for a different look, you can have your local sign company make up some vinyl letters for you to attach to the fabric. Get cutesy with your signs, or keep them simple. Try phrases like "Table Toppers" or, for a display of hostess gifts, "Thanks for Thanksgiving."
• Props that work well for Thanksgiving seasonal displays include gourds, feathers, handmade baskets, and birds. Ceramic or painted wooden birds look great combined with a handcrafted basket and some silk flowers.
• For a less-is-more look, think monochromatic colors mixed with metallics. Small groups of metallic candles at different heights lend a contemporary flair to a tabletop display.
• An asymmetrical tablecloth, paired with matching placemats, makes a table look interesting and different.
• Low, full decoratives in the center of the table prevent people from communicating with each other. Use tall, thin vases containing fun, "flowery" flowers that are tall enough to be out of most people's line of sight.
• Place a small bouquet at each place setting or on each seat to add color.

Although Thanksgiving may have changed in meaning over the years, it remains the perfect time for people to acknowledge their appreciation for each other and for what they have in this life. Your appreciation for your customers' "visit mentality" will be the perfect way to increase your sales this holiday season. Then you too can sit down and count your blessings.