jessicaraemiller

Last week, I offered some merchandising help to Emily Zach the owner of Francy Pants.  She recently opened the store in the Drake Neighborhood.  Emily is a lawyer by day and a store owner by night. She is one busy lady!  I noticed during a early winter visit there were ways she could merchandise her store better which would translate into higher sales.  I contacted her a couple weeks later about my ideas and she welcomed them.

Here are some before photos with my suggestions.

Window display is lacking focus.  I suggested she pull a table to the window and display items on it. The clothes hanging from strings does not motivate people to come in to see what else you have to offer.

This rack needs to be more focused. There are colors everywhere.  Plus.  it’s packed too tight.  I recommended color matching the jackets and un-hanging the jeans.

Overwhelming and underwhelming jean display. I recommended less is more and turning the jeans around, so people can see the pockets.  Also, keeping the dark and light jeans separate.

The sweater table is out of control!  I recommended taking away half and keep up with them (as re-folding with customers try and fold them) or keep the sweaters hung.

I recommended to Emily to always keep the black sliding doors closed. When they are open it’s the first thing you see when you walk it.  Also, that is her storage room. She doesn’t want people to see that!  Emily is also going to be switching to wood hangers.  The black plastic ones look cheap and unprofessional. And, the rack in the foreground needs some love like color-coordinating and remove she short sleeves.

I recommended that Emily place all her shoes in one place. Her shoes were spread all over the store.  Also, I think the shelves need be utilized better.  I recommended that  more gallery type display of non-clothing/shoe items would be easier to navigate.

Emily wrote me and said she spent the next day following my advice and did some re-arranging.  She also happily reported that her last Saturdays have been awesome and my advice worked!

Tags: advice, clothing, des moines, drake neighborhood, francy pants, merchandising, recommendations, renovate