Spring Market Day

I spent today at the Pacific Market Center in Seattle, for the Spring Gift Show.
Lots of great new stuff, lots of spiffed-up showrooms, and a never-ending supply of treats, goodies, samples, and catalogs. The show theme is 'Catch the BUZZ', much like the winter shows (remember the bees I made for exhibitor displays?) - and the copious amounts of sugar & caffeine offered seem to work well with that.

The program included listings of special events and seminars this week, including an excerpted article by Bob Negen, and SO much more...

How about a cheat sheet on the trending color palettes for 08? Local colorist & head of the Pantone Color Institute, Leatrice Eiseman, wrote an article for the brochure.

And a column called 'The Hive' fills us all in on new showrooms in the Market and the new Bistro for food and more caffeine! Kudos to the PMC for being a resource for information & education, as well as merchandise.

We found some great stuff for the client I was with, I was able to chat with a few sales reps I know and ran into a few people who are new there but I know from other places (Hi, Sheila!). It was good to see such a positive 'vibe' in the industry again. Oh, BIG Kudos to the Barron Collection, whose music mix was beyond perfect for Monday morning mood-boosting. Details, I tell ya - details!!!!

I will be speaking at the upcoming Portland Gift & Accessories Show!

SUNDAY, JUNE 1, 2008
10:30 am to 12:00 pm
Seminar: Store Design - Tell Your Story
Speaker: Debi Ward Kennedy, Retail Designer Speaker Writer

Based on my design work with wineries in Washington State, I've created this seminar to introduce the principle of Terrior - the French concept of ' Pride of Place'. Information will focus on the individual and unique story that each independent retailer has to tell. Based on your location, your products, your customers, and your business 'personality', you can create a retail environment that tells your own story.

I'll discuss and demonstrate how to make choices & changes that will elevate your visual impact, brand image, and sales:
1. How to arrange your store, including traffic patterns, architecture, and shopping habits of your customers.
2. Planning display areas based on scale, lighting, viewpoints & perspective.
3. Making design choices to build your brand image and tell your own story: color, style, materials.
4. How to take your store’s current look and add/expand it to another style or change to keep up with the changing trends (including Eco-trends), and using what you already have in the way of props, fixtures, etc. and rethinking them to serve in a new capacity with a new look.

Resources include suppliers and suggestions for finding inexpensive fixtures & props, plus a listing of exhibitors at the show who have provided items for use in a dynamic stage display.

With the new management of the show by GLM/dmg world media, there are several changes in the seminar format. One is that seminars will take place on a stage located right in the midst of the show floor - no more back rooms hidden away! The seminars will also be free of charge to attendees, which I know many people will appreciate.

If you'll be at the Portland show, please stop by the stage on Sunday morning and introduce yourself - I'd love to meet you!

For more show information, go to http://www.portlandgift.com/

BRILLiant Ideas

My friend Steph just posted a link on our Women Take Wing! forum. Seems one of her friends forwarded it to her, and she just had to share it. I can see why! SO, now I have to share it with all of you!

"HEMA is a Dutch department store. The first store opened on November 4, 1926, in Amsterdam. Now there are 150 stores all over the Netherlands. HEMA also has stores in Belgium, Luxemburg, and Germany. In June of this year, HEMA was sold to British investment company Lion Capital.

Go to http://producten.hema.nl/ and take a look at their web page. Turn your sound up, too.You can't order anything and it's in Dutch... but just wait a couple of seconds and watch what happens!"

Seriously, this is a RIOT! Makes me want to visit their stores to see what they do there!

(It also makes a good point for using your business personality in your web design. I'm just sayin'....)