Retail Design | First Impressions Count
Retail Design | First Impressions Count
11 mins read
This one is for all you business owners out there.
Everyone knows that first impressions count.
Whether you’ve been in the biz for years, or are new to the game, the first impression gives customers a glimpse into all the good things in store for them. You and your staff embody everything about your brand - and that’s exactly what your store should be doing. Both inside and out! That’s why storefront and store interior design is so important in the success of any business.
The shopfront is the little teaser to entice them to come in. That says ‘this is just the beginning, wait until you see what’s on the inside’. And once they’re inside, you want to blow. Them. Away.
This week, we focus on Bombshell Blow Dry Bar - a new hair and beauty salon that made an absolute bang on opening night!
Read on to find out how they stopped traffic for all the right reasons.
Retail Design - The Process
Have you been in business for a while? Maybe your shop space is in desperate need of an overhaul to bring it out of the 90s. Or perhaps you’re just starting out and are wanting to bring your epic vision to life!
Whichever it is, it can get overwhelming scrawling through the internet for retail design ideas for the interior of a shop. Or you might be thousands of pins deep in Pinterest ideas for shopfront signage.
Well, you can thank your lucky stars. We’ve helped hundreds of business clients bring their vision to life. And thanks to our in-house design team, we’ve been able to share what signage has worked with new customers too!
The Story - Bombshell Blow Dry Bar
Hair. Beauty. Cocktails. Galpals.
Yes, please!
More often than not, we are absolutely blown away by the creativity of our customers!
It was just another day in the office when we opened our emails to find one from the gorgeous girls at @bombshellblowdrybar. They were creating a brand new salon and wanted big, bold and glam. Their vision also included pink, hair, beauty, cocktails, and their Girl Gang Mantra really spoke to us.
“We are the women that empower women to become the best version of themselves. We are not afraid to flourish, strive and sacrifice to reach our goals. We love who we are and where we have come from. Although we are all different, our common goal is that every woman will know that they are loved and have great purpose. We are that woman.
We are BOMBSHELL xoxo”
We love supporting women (and men) in business...
...plus, their vision included not 1, not 2, but 6 stunning neons! So to say we were excited would be an understatement.
Shopfront Signage
There are three key things to keep in mind when you’re deciding on your shopfront design and signage.
1. You want to stand out
There are so many potential distractions in today’s world. Traditional billboards, digital billboards, cars, people, someone recording a video for their social media to name a few. And that’s when we’re not distracted by everything going on in front of us on our phone.
You need to do something different to disrupt the attention of passers-by. To attract street traffic - both pedestrians and vehicles. Now, we’re not saying you have to go paint your shop in big bold colours (although we do love this approach). In fact, if you’re on a street with many colourful neighbours, you might need a monochrome look to set yourself apart.
We’re saying to find a point of difference between your store and your neighbours’. Depending on local government restrictions etc., painting the exterior might not be the easiest or most cost-effective option.
That’s why we love signage! Particularly LED neon signage. There are so many colours to choose from, and different settings you can have your sign on. So even if one of your neighbours happens to have one, yours can always be different.
2. You want to have your shop name clearly displayed
We’ve all been there. Pacing up and down a street, back and forth past the same stores. We had done our research and found the address of that store we wanted to check out. We were so excited that we’d finally get to visit the store in person and look at all those pieces we wanted to purchase. But now that we’re actually here, we can't figure out where exactly this store is!
Turned out that the store was missing signage.
Having your shop name clearly displayed is key in making sure all those leads that you worked so hard on getting, turn into potential customers! There are a few options for under awning signage. We often see decals used in shopfronts. However, we’re not too keen on them. Yes, they might come in a little cheaper than other options. But they don’t last as long, can start to peel, and the actual application can be so hard to get right.
Acrylic, metal or wooden signage is another option for shopfront signage. They definitely do the job of labelling your store and help your customers navigate their way to your store during the day. But come wintertime, the sun starts to set a little bit earlier. And all that money you’ve invested into your under awning signage goes to waste as customers can no longer see it in the early winter nights.
This is another reason LED neon signage is quickly becoming a favourite amongst small business and shop owners. They stand out - day or night. This makes custom neon signs a wonderful investment. While it’s on, it’s attracting potential new clientele, and working while you’re not.
These ones from Sketch & Etch Neon are fantastic for displaying indoors in your shopfront window. They can be left on 24/7 and can be seen from across the street or further at any time of the day.
3. You want to entice people in
Let’s face it. Vanilla is nice. But there’s a reason why the most popular ice cream flavour is chocolate. Let’s not mention that new flavour of ice-cream we all want to get a taste of too! The same goes for shopfronts. It’s easy to go with a ‘safe’ option. But you want something tasty, vibrant, will give your customers a serious case of FOMO, and will leave them wanting to come back for more.
Bombshell Blow Dry Bar ticked all three boxes with their shopfront signage. Being in a major shopping precinct, the Bombshell Blow Dry Bar team knew that the opportunity was huge. With expansive competition for attention, they just needed to make sure they stood out.
We recreated their logo in neon (with a hint of UV printing), and boy did it blow our socks off! As pink was a key part of their brief, we naturally made their neon in Pink. How does it look during the day (and night?!).
Do you have a logo you want to turn into LED neon? Just get in touch with the Sketch & Etch team via email. We’ll get right to work on creating your very own custom mock-up!
Retail Interior Design
After first impressions, comes getting to know more about someone and their personality.
Retail interior design is where you can really let your brand and what it’s all about shine! There’s no need to meet any styling restrictions from local government bodies. And retailers can often tailor the interior space to suit them, and truly bring their vision to life.
The gorgeous girls at Bombshell Blow Dry Bar did a stunning job of tying together their large space and creating serious Bombshell, old-glamour-meets-new vibes.
The key? Having a theme that pulls everything together. And yes, in this case it was most definitely pink with a big dash of 60s vibes.
The team carefully chose a few key pieces from our pre-designed online collections.
Here are some of our faves and why.
Our iconic Mean Girls On wednesdays we wear pink neon
One of the most iconic sayings from the ultimate chick-flick Mean Girls, this fits in perfectly with the store’s theme, and immediately creates a girl squad vibe when you step in the door.
Our babin’ Biting Lip neon. Girl power, embodied in one simple neon. Need we say more?
@bombshellblowdrybar @jaycorprenovations
We’re also loving what they did with our personalized initial letter neons...what would you spell out with them? It’s an oh-so-creative way of styling a pre-designed product! And makes for the perfect post-makeover selfie wall.
Are you looking to create your own beauty salon vibes? Shop our range of pre-designed neons here, design your own custom neon saying here, or get in touch for something extra custom!