Creative Images debuts display unit

Staff -- Kids Today, 4/1/2007

St. Augustine, Fla-based Creative Images has partnered with St. Louis-based The Miller Group, Multiplex Division to bring an affordable art display unit to the youth furnishings industry.

"We know that displays sell art," said Creative Images' Joy Phillips. "We have used them in our showrooms in Atlanta and Las Vegas with great success. The idea for the displays came about because our existing customers were asking for it."

For retailers, the displays work in conjunction with vignettes to help customers understand the art is for sale.

"The biggest problem with the traditional vignette" Phillips said, "is often the customer believes the art is simply decoration. In a display it is obvious that the product that can be purchased and taken home."

The Art4Kids Gallery display also allows retailers to mix themes, age groups and colors to show a range of art to appeal to more tastes and styles than just the themes shown in vignettes. The Gallery concept encourages customers to focus on art and browse the entire display.

"You can put a lot of art in a small space," said Kathy Webster, director of marketing for the Multiplex Division. "In fact, the unit we showed at Vegas Kids during the January market contains 560 square feet of display area and takes up only 39 square feet of floor space."

Phillips said, "This means that a fully loaded display has a minimum per square foot retail value exceeding $200 per square foot. Numbers like that are generally reserved for $1,200 dressers and $5,000 beds."

Ken Phillips, who designed and built the original displays used at Vegas Kids, said, "The Multiplex units are easy to set up and simply more affordable than the ones we constructed. And, unlike built-in fixtures, they are easy to move as needs change."

New display unit from Creative Images