You may be ready for summer, but are your window displays?
That question was posed in a feature in the June 1942 issue of JCK.
Virginia Dixon writes:
I know the sidewalk’s steaming and the sun is beating down quite without mercy, but now’s the time to see what your windows offer in the way of refreshing ideas to the warm and weary people who take, on the average, only six or seven seconds to pass your window.
Does your window offer an inviting oasis in the sweltering canon of your street…a spot that is a pleasure to gaze upon on a hot day…a suggestion for transferring this atmosphere to one’s own life?
These nine tips from that issue might help you answer those questions and capture more customers.
- Use cool colors—greens and blues—for your backgrounds with incidental spots of bright reds and yellows.
- Cover your plate glass for a week with green cellophane (editorial note: there is a chance using cellophone will make your windows look so tacky that customers might think your marketing strategy was thought up by a kindergartener).
- Make giant “ice cubes” out of transparent cellophane boxes, or fill ice buckets with ice cubes made of cellophane crumpled over chicken wire.
- Suggest on window cards cooling summer menus and show their serving dishes—relish dishes, pitchers, salad bowls, fruit bowls filled with real or artificial fruit.
- Mirror plaques on floor or background give an illusion of coolness and space.
- Appearances count more than ever at this time of year. Good housekeeping is vital. Dust smudges that might go unnoticed in fall or winter become offensive in the heat of summer.
- Feature frequently such season items as the waterproof watch.
- Work out for yourself a program for the season. List all possible tie-ups between your merchandise and the summer activities of the people who will be passing your windows. Give all your merchandise a “break” in this program and plan a series of displays that will make your windows noticed. Plan to change them frequently.
- In this war year, the stress will be on different themes than usual. Vacations and visiting will be curtailed, especially in the East. It will be more of an “at home” summer than ever before, so emphasize the items that make home pleasanter and more comfortable.
The feature also offered up three potentially pleasing summer displays:
Do you think any of these tips still apply to today’s market? If you swamp out “war year” with “tough economy,” does the last tip resonate with what jewelers are witnessing from their customers? What are you doing this summer to liven up your window displays?
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