Acrylic Store Fixtures - The Basics by:Tim Pelcone

You've just landed the contract to design the interiors of a new chain of bric-a-brac

retail stores and are now looking at various alternatives that you can suggest to your customer. After visiting a few well-known stores across town, you find that the most popular store fixtures seem to be in acrylic.

But why use acrylic? There are several distinct advantages that acrylic has over other materials:

- Durability: This is the main advantage. Basic store fittings will need to have a shelf life of at least a year - preferably more. They will also need to be safe against an elbow that knocks against them accidentally or a child that is attracted to a colorful display. In fact, in terms of durability, Acrylic is much longer lasting, especially when compared to lacquered or varnished hardwood.

- Lifetime Guarantee: Many acrylics come with a lifetime guarantee, thereby lowering your costs. You will also not have to keep too many spares to replace broken pieces.

- Strength: Acrylic looks deceptively fragile, but it can support a great deal of weight. In most stores, product size is not necessarily proportionate to weight. The same acrylic stands could be used to display something big and heavy as well as light or small. Acrylic also high-impact resistant.

- Flexibility: This is a wonderful quality that makes acrylic useful for any kind of display stand. It can be molded into any shape and have rounded or square corners.

- Optical Clarity: This quality makes acrylic suitable for all kinds of cases and stands. The transparency of the material will not detract from the items being displayed. They will also give the entire display a much 'lighter' and uncluttered feel. Plate glass has a dark green tint along the edge of the sheet, whereas acrylic sheets are clear.

- Lightness: The lightness of acrylic makes it easy to move display units around. They will also add minimal weight to the shelves on which the merchandise is being displayed.

- Duplicability: The flexibility of the material also makes it comparatively easy to duplicate standard pieces. A chain store needs to have standardized display units in all of its stores. Acrylic is the ideal material for this. If the store needs to expand, it will not be difficult to make additional display units to match the original ones. Acrylic has become a very popular material - so it is comparatively easy to get someone to make exactly what you want.

Disadvantages

Using acrylic for store fixtures has only one disadvantage:

- Scratch Resistant: This is the main disadvantage of acrylic - it scratches easier than glass. The way around this, however is to rub a good grade of paste wax into the acrylic. This will make the scratches 'disappear' and the stand will look as good as new!

There are 7 advantages to 1 disadvantage of using acrylic. This in itself speaks volumes about the suitability of acrylic for making display units. If you want to display your products to their maximum potential, use acrylic and you can't go wrong.

About the author

Tim Pelcone consults with retail store owners to improve their merchandising effectiveness. In Sacramento he recommends Capitol Store Fixtures, http://www.csfixtures.com, for the best selection in acrylic retail store displays.

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