Thinking Big

Most retailers face a particular type of visual display challenge: making the most out of limited space. But that was not a problem for Hanna's Candle Factory Outlet when the eight-store chain set about building its second store in 1999. The Tontitown, Arkansas, location covered a stunning 88,000 square feet (not including an annex building with another 24,000 square feet) and had ceilings that extended as high as 30 feet.

How does one merchandise a 112,000-square-foot candle store? How does one ensure that customers aren't overwhelmed by the cavernous space and keep the merchandise from looking tiny and lost? The Hanna's team's answer was to create a series of massive display fixtures that would divide the space up into more manageable, themed sections. In fact, this had been part of their strategy from the beginning: They had erected the giant building to facilitate such displays as the Candlemaker's Wharf, a scaled-down wharf area where customers could design their own candles and enjoy entertainment and special events; the Log Cabin, a two-story building designed to show off lodge-look merchandise; and actual period trucks that would be used to display seconds.

"We wanted to look different," explained buyer Lee Williams. "We didn't want to look like a discount store or a really trendy gift shop."

She explained that they started by creating an industrial building and then softened it later. They hired theme builder Bob Dillon to provide these softening touches, to bring the cavernous store down to a human level.

Dillon created custom fixtures for Hanna's Candle Factory Outlet using galvanized metal and wood. The highlight is the Candlemaker's Wharf, where customers can eat, relax, listen to musical performances, or even attend birthday or tea parties. They can go inside the quaint shingled building, design their own candles, and watch them being made right there.

Another building, the Log Cabin, isn't open to customers; instead, its façade serves as a folksy backdrop for lodge-look decor items. In Arkansas, outdoor and country wares are big sellers, so this display serves a definite need. Also capitalizing on that demand is the lodge fireplace, a nearby display complete with a mantelpiece of bare wood and crowned with a bear holding a fishing pole.

Feeling the Disney World vibe? Well, it continues with the U.S.S. Candle, a sailboat whose white sail bears the store's name. Filled with nautical decor pieces and candles, it evokes the seafaring life amid a cloud of starfish, rope, and dock posts. Other vehicles in the store include an old fire truck and pickup truck that serve as charming backdrops for factory-overrun and damaged candles. The Burt's Bents & Dents Truck, an early '50s Ford with a blue cab, now holds seconds in metal pails mounted on its bed. The Fire Truck serves as an arresting visual display for large quantities of identical merchandise that might otherwise be tedious to look at and attract little customer attention. Continuing the theme, this section is also scattered with various truck beds painted in bright colors and piled high with seconds.

Another prominent display fixture is the Greenhouse, located in the center of the store. Plants adorn the top and sides of the airy wood-and-metal structure, and tables inside contain a pleasing mix of greenery and garden decor items. A similar wood-and-metal structure in a gazebo shape arches over the store's Giant Candle. Made from roughly 1,000 pounds of wax, it was carved for Hanna's by display designer Cecil Savage. Adorned with a swirling blue pattern of dolphins and sea foam and surrounded by delicate greenery, the behemoth candle actually burns.

Thanks to the vignette display technique executed on a grand scale, Hanna's Candle Factory Outlet has managed to turn a building and a volume of merchandise that might have proved daunting into a quaint, welcoming space. The store hit the $1 million sales mark within a month after opening, and it grossed in the neighborhood of $5 million in 2000. Customers respond well to the store's mix of candles, collectibles, home decor items, seasonal merchandise, silk florals, plants, and antiques, displayed in themed groupings suggestive of how the items might work in the home. "I think they're very surprised when they come in," Lee Williams said, explaining that customers see the industrial-looking exterior of Hanna's first and then discover that the inside is full of cozy decorative touches. She concluded, "It really is a comfortable place to shop."