Swing Shops highlight your merchandise!
Resale, thrift and consignment shops, with their wonderful variety of ever-changing merchandise, have a unique opportunity to focus customers’ attention with a swing shop. The excerpts that accompany these photographs are from Shop Sizzle, a collection of 10 topics directed specifically to resale shops, to help them look as great (and oftentimes greater!) than those new-merchandise stores.
A swing shop says to your customer: “We have what you want, we have a good selection of it, it’s always changing, and we’re fun to shop!” What more could you ask for?
This photo shows the basics of swing shops: A swing shop is an area dedicated to selling featured items.
You can mix hanging items with a table to display accessories. The glass tabletop allows for light to shine through.
Simplest swing shop: An outfit on a mannequin, a see-through wall, and a 2-way with coordinated merchandise.
For maximum exposure, your swing shop should be in the front half of your store, easily entered from your door. Photo courtesy of Castaways in California.
Accessorizing, adding height, and sticking to one color way makes an effective swing shop.
There’s no limit, except time and your space, on the number of swing shops you can have. And, to be honest, there’s no limit on the amount of straightening and finding replacement stock for your swing shop, either. If your swing shop isn’t attracting browsers and buyers,
if it stays too neat or is bypassed for other areas of the shop, change it.
Ready to make more money with a swing shop in your store? Shop Sizzle tells you how to sell the Sizzle by making your merchandise more tempting. Simple, quick, and useful for shops of all types and budgets. 10 topics cover the 10 areas of your shop that should SIZZLE with excitement. Make your shop look terrific and sell more! Order it today!
Auntie Kate The Resale Expert 
[…] You don’t need to re-arrange the entire store. […]
[…] “If it stays too neat, change it”… my advice from this post. […]
Absolutely, Kitty, ANYthing important needs to be OUTSIDE the “landing zone” as some call it. That’s the 6-10 feet (depending on your shop’s size and especially width) that people need for breathing room, to gather their wits and acclimate themselves to the shop. The only thing I’d put inside this landing zone: a bench for companions; a small table with handouts/ informational brochures/ business cards; a simple, flat display; the shop name/ tagline on the wall.
Then, once they’ve orientated themselves within the shop, they’re ready for your swing shop. Good catch, Kitty, thanks!
And let’s not overlook that a shop can, and probably should, have more than one swing shop… perhaps to differentiate departments, for example furniture from kids’ clothes.
I love our swing shop but I have discovered it needs to be about 10 feet inside the front door. Any closer and they’ll walk right past it without even seeing it.