Introducing a Community Sharing Space for Bookstore Display Ideas
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Following Winter Institute’s three days of education, bookseller Gary Robson of Red Lodge Books & Tea in Red Lodge, Montana, spoke with the American Booksellers Association about developing a forum where booksellers can share ideas for in-store displays and signage.
Robson got the ball rolling by creating two boards on Pinterest that booksellers can visit to share ideas about displays and discover innovative ways to showcase books and sidelines in their stores:
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Creative Bookstore Windows, for showing off creative, clever bookstore windows featuring all types of merchandise
- Effective Bookstore Displays, for sharing merchandising ideas for table displays, signage, shelving, and any other avenues
“Sometimes sharing ideas is enough to create new ideas along the way, and that’s just what happened to me,” explained Robson on his blog. “I attended some wonderful sessions about merchandizing and decorating, and when I was telling someone about it later, I wished I had copies of all of the slides I had seen.”
With bookseller participation, Robson hopes that the boards will become a photo-sharing community and a continuing source of inspiration for bookstore displays, which can take time to think up and create but can be critical for stimulating sales. Robson found such inspiration in the presentations and many ideas to bring back to his own store that he felt fellow booksellers could benefit from an ever-growing stock of display ideas.
With just a few of Robson’s photos posted to start, booksellers are encouraged to join the boards and begin pinning, as well as to share the boards with colleagues in order to create robust resources with many contributors.
Booksellers can share Robson’s blog post documenting the project, the links to the Creative Bookstore Windows or Effective Bookstore Displays Pinterest boards, or this BTW article to help inform other bookstores about this resource.
To share ideas on the Creative Bookstore Windows or Effective Bookstore Displays pages, simply visit the page, follow the board (sign up for Pinterest via a Facebook account or an e-mail address) and leave a comment on the board or on Robson’s blog post to be authorized to pin to the boards. These pages are open to ABA members and non-members alike.