This is an update of a popular blog post from 2015.

Repetition is pleasing to the eye, and multiples of almost any item can make a great backdrop for a merchandise display. If you don’t have enough of one product to hang dozens in the back of your window, take a trip to a “dollar store.”  For slightly more than $24 (now that most dollar store items are $1.25!), you can get two dozen of just about anything — beach balls, buckets, colorful containers, pool noodles, or gift bags.

You may also discover other finds that will be useful in the store. If you search under Dollar, Store & Display in Pinterest, you’ll see tiered pedestals made by combining trays and glass candlesticks, as well as clever uses of inexpensive frames for store signage.

You can make use of the greenery and artificial flowers stocked in most dollar stores to make your displays appropriate to the season.  Nothing says spring, summer or garden like the color green, and you can use your ferns and vines in your St. Pat’s and Easter displays as well.

If your store doesn’t sell holiday decor, check out the merchandise available at a dollar store.  Adding some hearts to your February window or snowflakes to a winter display will insert some seasonal flavor without much expense. 

Sometimes adding an item from a dollar store can increase the value of your regular merchandise….for example, adding a silk stem to a bud vase may help sell it faster without adding much to the cost.  Perhaps you can find baskets to use to group items that are slow sellers together into an attractive gift set, or add a little moss and some of your fairy garden items to a $1 fishbowl to create a new item.

It might be fun to send some of your employees into the dollar store with $30 each to see what creative ideas they can come up with. Offer a prize for the most imaginative or profitable result — you may be surprised to see what twenty greenbacks can do.

Happy Retailing,

Carol “Orange” Schroeder