Powell launches PowellKIDS Gallery
Lisa Casinger -- Kids Today, 7/31/2008 9:37:00 AM
LAS VEGAS — Powell Co. is hoping to add fun and excitement to stores with its new youth bedroom gallery program designed by The Connie Post Cos., which is debuting at the Furniture Market here this week.
The PowellKids program offers footprints of 1,000 to more than 2,000 square feet, with the minimum size holding four groups.
Powell is offering a package that includes design service from Post, color plans, floor covering details and fixtures. The gallery features eco-friendly, interlocking flooring, grand entrances and room panel dividers that are flexible and moveable. It also has oversized wall graphics and logos, light fixtures, rugs and ladder guards for bunk and loft beds.
All the retailer needs to do is provide a floor plan of the area dedicated to the program, paint existing walls according to the color plan, and install the lighting. The cost per square foot is $10.50-$12, according to Powell, which is showing here in the World Market Center, A-753.
Tom Liddell, senior vice president of national sales, said the company did extensive research and polled a number of retailers.
“They are all looking for fun and excitement in their stores. …Our gallery program can be much more than an effective way to market youth product, it can re-inspire their sales force and may even help aid sales force retention, a problem all stores are facing today,” Liddell said.
To drive traffic into the stores, Powell has created a program for a year’s worth of in-store events ranging from birthday parties and a spelling bee to a fingerprinting event, story hour and more.
Liddell says the galleries can pay for themselves with such events as a remodeling sale and a youth gallery grand opening sale.
