Your front window presents a great opportunity to entice potential shoppers into the store, usually by giving them a preview of what you offer. Visual merchandising can be a real art – and in fact Salvadore Dali and Andy Warhol are among those commissioned to decorate shop windows in the heyday of department stores.

Most window displays center around a selection of merchandise. (Not Salvadore Dali’s – but that didn’t end well. He fell through the glass in a fit of pique about the response to his display for Bonwit Teller.)  However depending on what you sell, and whether there is a platform for merchandise behind the window, it may be more practical to use a design on the glass to intrigue passersby. 

Our neighbors at Monroe Street Framing have made great use of art by OhYa Studio to create cozy seasonal scenes in their window.  This team of sign painters and muralists designs and paints the window, often bringing their dog along to supervise. The inside of the frame shop is visible through the design, so it is still easy to see what the store sells.

Tempera paint, which can be removed with water, is a popular choice for window painting. Acrylic paints are thicker and may not flake as easily. They may fare better on the inside of the glass where they are not exposed to the elements.

Another idea is reusable window clings, available in a variety of sizes and motifs.  But if you want to avoid buying from Amazon (or Temu, which is a discount site mostly offering products shipped directly from China), you won’t have many options for large-scale designs suitable for a store window. Check into having your own design custom printed on clear vinyl decals or clings.  This allows you to incorporate your own logo, font and other branding along with your motif.

If you don’t feel confident about your skills in painting the window yourself, look to the community (and your high school) for talent. One of our favorite face painters, Kinga of Radiant Smiles, has recently started doing some wonderful window painting for local businesses, which is a great off-season use of her talent.

Happy Retailing,

Carol “Orange” Schroeder