HI Folks
A group of us are setting up a co-operative art & crafts gallery / shop
out here in south-west Ireland.

We've pretty much decided on some premises - but they're going to need
some work to improve the lighting. Decent lighting's pretty important to
show off the items that are on sale. However, we're on a fairly tight
budget - not just for the capital items (light fittings etc) but also
for the ongoing running costs.

Premises currently have 2 double fluorescents (5ft or so?) in the larger
room (24ft x 10ft) and one double flouro in the smaller room (13ft x
8ft). There are also two recessed downlighters fitted with led spots -
but they don;t seem to contribute much light (if any!!)

Spotlights would be great, but we're concerned about installation &
running costs - and I've used led spots in the past to replace the
little 50w halogen spots on an exhibition stand and they are simply not
bright enough.

So - not wanting to start a 'holy war' on leds vs halogen - but what's
peoples experience on lighting such a retail outlet....

...my gut feel is more fluoro's - not pretty, but highly effective
and cheap to run...??

Thanks
Adrian

On 07/02/2012 09:00, Adrian Brentnall wrote:
HI Folks
A group of us are setting up a co-operative art & crafts gallery / shop
out here in south-west Ireland.

We've pretty much decided on some premises - but they're going to need
some work to improve the lighting. Decent lighting's pretty important to
show off the items that are on sale. However, we're on a fairly tight
budget - not just for the capital items (light fittings etc) but also
for the ongoing running costs.

In which case, you really ought to be looking very seriously at whether
you have made the right decision. Under capitalisation is one of the
most common causes of business failure.

Premises currently have 2 double fluorescents (5ft or so?) in the larger
room (24ft x 10ft) and one double flouro in the smaller room (13ft x
8ft). There are also two recessed downlighters fitted with led spots -
but they don;t seem to contribute much light (if any!!)

Spotlights would be great, but we're concerned about installation &
running costs - and I've used led spots in the past to replace the
little 50w halogen spots on an exhibition stand and they are simply not
bright enough.

So - not wanting to start a 'holy war' on leds vs halogen - but what's
peoples experience on lighting such a retail outlet....

..my gut feel is more fluoro's - not pretty, but highly effective
and cheap to run...??

Display lighting is a science (or maybe an art) all of its own and there
will be no simple one size fits all answer. Centralised fluorescent
lighting would be fine for a grocery store, but an art gallery needs to
focus attention on individual products, which means you will need some
focus lighting. Unless, of course, you simply plan to heap lots of stuff
inside and hope that people will find something they want. They probably
won't bother to look though.

If you are in a suitable location for an open shop front (one with a
window) then you might, at the beginning, get away with just using spots
in that. As you don't want the window too cluttered, that could mean as
few as two or three spots illuminating as many objects. There should
also be some light near the bottom of the window, to avoid pooling of
shadows, but that could simply be a strip light, provided it is shaded
from view from outside. In the longer term, you should add focus
lighting (which should be 2-2.5 times as bright as the background
lighting) to displays inside as you can afford them. Ideally, they
should be movable, so you can redirect the focus from time to time,
which gives people a feel that the shop has changed since they last visited.

If you are in a low-traffic location (why?) a closed shop front may be
more effective, but then you will need to make an impact with the
display as people step through the door, which would mean you need to
give more attention to focus lighting inside.

The best answer is to go out and look at other shops, particularly any
in the same line, even if it means a fair bit of travel to do so, and
see what works.

Colin Bignell

On Feb 7, 9:00*am, Adrian Brentnall wrote:
HI Folks
A group of us are setting up a co-operative art & crafts gallery / shop
out here in south-west Ireland.

We've pretty much decided on some premises - but they're going to need
some work to improve the lighting. Decent lighting's pretty important to
show off the items that are on sale. However, we're on a fairly tight
budget - not just for the capital items (light fittings etc) but also
for the ongoing running costs.

Premises currently have 2 double fluorescents (5ft or so?) in the larger
room (24ft x 10ft) and one double flouro in the smaller room (13ft x
8ft). There are also two recessed downlighters fitted with led spots -
but they don;t seem to contribute much light (if any!!)

Spotlights would be great, but we're concerned about installation &
running costs - and I've used led spots in the past to replace the
little 50w halogen spots on an exhibition stand and they are simply not
bright enough.

So - not wanting to start a 'holy war' on leds vs halogen - but what's
peoples experience on lighting such a retail outlet....

..my gut feel is more fluoro's - not pretty, but highly effective
and cheap to run...??

Thanks
Adrian

Fluorescent is cheap, hence its been so popular for so long. With the
old linear tubes, the longer the tube the more efficient, both
energywise and moneywise. So whatever you do, at least a percentage of
flourescent helps keep costs down. Spotlighting is pricey to run on a
per result basis.


NT

On 07/02/2012 09:55, Nightjar wrote:
On 07/02/2012 09:00, Adrian Brentnall wrote:
HI Folks
A group of us are setting up a co-operative art & crafts gallery / shop
out here in south-west Ireland.

We've pretty much decided on some premises - but they're going to need
some work to improve the lighting. Decent lighting's pretty important to
show off the items that are on sale. However, we're on a fairly tight
budget - not just for the capital items (light fittings etc) but also
for the ongoing running costs.

In which case, you really ought to be looking very seriously at whether
you have made the right decision. Under capitalisation is one of the
most common causes of business failure.

Thanks.


Premises currently have 2 double fluorescents (5ft or so?) in the larger
room (24ft x 10ft) and one double flouro in the smaller room (13ft x
8ft). There are also two recessed downlighters fitted with led spots -
but they don;t seem to contribute much light (if any!!)

Spotlights would be great, but we're concerned about installation &
running costs - and I've used led spots in the past to replace the
little 50w halogen spots on an exhibition stand and they are simply not
bright enough.

So - not wanting to start a 'holy war' on leds vs halogen - but what's
peoples experience on lighting such a retail outlet....

..my gut feel is more fluoro's - not pretty, but highly effective
and cheap to run...??

Display lighting is a science (or maybe an art) all of its own and there
will be no simple one size fits all answer. Centralised fluorescent
lighting would be fine for a grocery store, but an art gallery needs to
focus attention on individual products, which means you will need some
focus lighting. Unless, of course, you simply plan to heap lots of stuff
inside and hope that people will find something they want. They probably
won't bother to look though.

Touch of negativity going on here..?

We _do_ understand the need to have attractive, bright, uncluttered
displays - which is why I'm asking about lighting....


If you are in a suitable location for an open shop front (one with a
window) then you might, at the beginning, get away with just using spots
in that. As you don't want the window too cluttered, that could mean as
few as two or three spots illuminating as many objects. There should
also be some light near the bottom of the window, to avoid pooling of
shadows, but that could simply be a strip light, provided it is shaded
from view from outside. In the longer term, you should add focus
lighting (which should be 2-2.5 times as bright as the background
lighting) to displays inside as you can afford them. Ideally, they
should be movable, so you can redirect the focus from time to time,
which gives people a feel that the shop has changed since they last
visited.

Yes - good ideas - thanks
We do have a nice open shopfront (windows & door are the full width &
height of the shop) so need to balance and attractive display with the
ability to 'see though' the display into the gallery proper.


If you are in a low-traffic location (why?)

We aren't...

a closed shop front may be
more effective, but then you will need to make an impact with the
display as people step through the door, which would mean you need to
give more attention to focus lighting inside.

The best answer is to go out and look at other shops, particularly any
in the same line, even if it means a fair bit of travel to do so, and
see what works.

Yes, thanks - already doing that....

Adrian

On 07/02/2012 09:59, NT wrote:
On Feb 7, 9:00 am, Adrian wrote:
HI Folks
A group of us are setting up a co-operative art& crafts gallery / shop
out here in south-west Ireland.

We've pretty much decided on some premises - but they're going to need
some work to improve the lighting. Decent lighting's pretty important to
show off the items that are on sale. However, we're on a fairly tight
budget - not just for the capital items (light fittings etc) but also
for the ongoing running costs.

Premises currently have 2 double fluorescents (5ft or so?) in the larger
room (24ft x 10ft) and one double flouro in the smaller room (13ft x
8ft). There are also two recessed downlighters fitted with led spots -
but they don;t seem to contribute much light (if any!!)

Spotlights would be great, but we're concerned about installation&
running costs - and I've used led spots in the past to replace the
little 50w halogen spots on an exhibition stand and they are simply not
bright enough.

So - not wanting to start a 'holy war' on leds vs halogen - but what's
peoples experience on lighting such a retail outlet....

..my gut feel is more fluoro's - not pretty, but highly effective
and cheap to run...??

Thanks
Adrian

Fluorescent is cheap, hence its been so popular for so long. With the
old linear tubes, the longer the tube the more efficient, both
energywise and moneywise. So whatever you do, at least a percentage of
flourescent helps keep costs down. Spotlighting is pricey to run on a
per result basis.



Yes - thanks. Sounds like a mix of spot & fluoro is the way to go.
My folks ran a gifts / jewellery / clocks & watches shop back in the
80's - and I remember Dad saying that, some days in the winter, the
spotlights cost more than the shop took... so we want to avoid that
scenario if at all possible...

Found a document from Sustainable Energy Ireland

http://www.seai.ie/Publications/Your..._Guide_FNL.pdf

which more or less discounts led lighting other than close-up for
localised lighting (which was my experience with the display stand).

I had very good results at shows with a couple of 150w halogen
'mini-floods' - but they look a bit agricultural for 'gallery' use. Also
- at the shows, 'somebody else' was paying for the electricity!g

Thanks
Adrian

In article ,
Adrian Brentnall writes:
HI Folks
A group of us are setting up a co-operative art & crafts gallery / shop
out here in south-west Ireland.

We've pretty much decided on some premises - but they're going to need
some work to improve the lighting. Decent lighting's pretty important to
show off the items that are on sale. However, we're on a fairly tight
budget - not just for the capital items (light fittings etc) but also
for the ongoing running costs.

Premises currently have 2 double fluorescents (5ft or so?) in the larger
room (24ft x 10ft) and one double flouro in the smaller room (13ft x
8ft). There are also two recessed downlighters fitted with led spots -
but they don;t seem to contribute much light (if any!!)

Spotlights would be great, but we're concerned about installation &
running costs - and I've used led spots in the past to replace the
little 50w halogen spots on an exhibition stand and they are simply not
bright enough.

So - not wanting to start a 'holy war' on leds vs halogen - but what's
peoples experience on lighting such a retail outlet....

..my gut feel is more fluoro's - not pretty, but highly effective
and cheap to run...??

Yes. Aim on lighting up the goods well. Look at using perimeter
wall washers, which can be very effective for goods around the
walls, zero glare. A light coloured decoration scheme would mean
reflected light will probably be enough for general lighting in
isles without needing much additional, except perhaps some task
lighting for areas like the till and to catch customers' faces
well if using CCTV.

Could retain the existing lights as cleaner's lighting, if you
don't need them for the shop's operation and they're not too
unsightly.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

On 07/02/2012 09:59, NT wrote:

Fluorescent is cheap, hence its been so popular for so long. With the
old linear tubes, the longer the tube the more efficient, both
energywise and moneywise. So whatever you do, at least a percentage of
flourescent helps keep costs down. Spotlighting is pricey to run on a
per result basis.


An Indian restaurant near us was refitted a few years ago with mains
halogen lamps, probably about 100 ceiling inserts in all each placed
about 75cms apart. Pretty bright clinical lighting.

Though, when we went in there recently, every second bulb had been
removed. And the remaining replaced with a supermarket CFL hanging off a
cable attached to a bodged-in chocolate block connector. I'm sure that
wasn't in the original quote for the garish makeover!

Food still great. All ye can eat buffet for £7.95. How do thay do that!

(Answer: it's now a bit dark....)

--
Adrian C

On Feb 7, 10:16*am, Adrian Brentnall
wrote:
On 07/02/2012 09:59, NT wrote:
On Feb 7, 9:00 am, Adrian *wrote:


HI Folks
A group of us are setting up a co-operative art& *crafts gallery / shop
out here in south-west Ireland.

We've pretty much decided on some premises - but they're going to need
some work to improve the lighting. Decent lighting's pretty important to
show off the items that are on sale. However, we're on a fairly tight
budget - not just for the capital items (light fittings etc) but also
for the ongoing running costs.

Premises currently have 2 double fluorescents (5ft or so?) in the larger
room (24ft x 10ft) and one double flouro in the smaller room (13ft x
8ft). There are also two recessed downlighters fitted with led spots -
but they don;t seem to contribute much light (if any!!)

Spotlights would be great, but we're concerned about installation&
running costs - and I've used led spots in the past to replace the
little 50w halogen spots on an exhibition stand and they are simply not
bright enough.

So - not wanting to start a 'holy war' on leds vs halogen - but what's
peoples experience on lighting such a retail outlet....

..my gut feel is more fluoro's - not pretty, but highly effective
and cheap to run...??

Thanks
Adrian

Fluorescent is cheap, hence its been so popular for so long. With the
old linear tubes, the longer the tube the more efficient, both
energywise and moneywise. So whatever you do, at least a percentage of
flourescent helps keep costs down. Spotlighting is pricey to run on a
per result basis.

Yes - thanks. Sounds like a mix of spot & fluoro is the way to go.
My folks ran a gifts / jewellery / clocks & watches shop back in the
80's - and I remember Dad saying that, some days in the winter, the
spotlights cost more than the shop took... so we want to avoid that
scenario if at all possible...

Found a document from Sustainable Energy Ireland

http://www.seai.ie/Publications/Your...ons/Energy_Gui...

which more or less discounts led lighting other than close-up for
localised lighting (which was my experience with the display stand).

I had very good results at shows with a couple of 150w halogen
'mini-floods' - but they look a bit agricultural for 'gallery' use. Also
- at the shows, 'somebody else' was paying for the electricity!g

Thanks
Adrian

If you're lighting glassware, you can sit the glass directly on a very
low power light source, eg a small CFL in a box with a hole in the
top. Cover the box with cloth. Very cost efficient, and good at making
the pieces stand out.

I dont know whether you can get away with just one spotlight per item.
The nearer the spots are to the product, the lower power they can be,
so there is often mileage in having 5 watt spots right up almost
touching the item.


NT

On 07/02/2012 10:11, Adrian Brentnall wrote:
On 07/02/2012 09:55, Nightjar wrote:
....
... Unless, of course, you simply plan to heap lots of stuff
inside and hope that people will find something they want. They probably
won't bother to look though.

Touch of negativity going on here..?

Merely an observation on many arts and craft places, of which we have
quite a few in the area.

We _do_ understand the need to have attractive, bright, uncluttered
displays - which is why I'm asking about lighting....

A lot of retailers don't seem to understand the principles of displaying
goods.

As an additional thought, you can get low energy downlighters, which,
while not as good as steerable spots, could give you areas of higher
light levels where you can place displays, without being too expensive
to run.

Colin Bignell

On Feb 7, 9:00*am, Adrian Brentnall wrote:
HI Folks
A group of us are setting up a co-operative art & crafts gallery / shop
out here in south-west Ireland.

We've pretty much decided on some premises - but they're going to need
some work to improve the lighting. Decent lighting's pretty important to
show off the items that are on sale. However, we're on a fairly tight
budget - not just for the capital items (light fittings etc) but also
for the ongoing running costs.

Shop keepers have any amount of enthusiasm at refit/opening time,
after the doors are open even a spare lamp seems too much expense.

It is good that your thinking about ongoing costs, including
maintenance.



Premises currently have 2 double fluorescents (5ft or so?) in the larger
room (24ft x 10ft) and one double flouro in the smaller room (13ft x
8ft). There are also two recessed downlighters fitted with led spots -
but they don;t seem to contribute much light (if any!!)


Lighting level is almost relative to value of stock, in a supermarket
very high illuminance levels and lots of stock, giving the feeling of
plenty on a bright day.

In a boutique, levels will be lower, the sparsely presented stock will
be highlighted and circulation areas are dimmer than the offering. A
feeling of exclusivity and rarity.

One rule for both ends though, the area around the till, where money
changes hands, must be noticeably brighter than the surround, you`ll
notice it even in supermarkets.


Spotlights would be great, but we're concerned about installation &
running costs - and I've used led spots in the past to replace the
little 50w halogen spots on an exhibition stand and they are simply not
bright enough.

Lighting is an energy intensive activity, Source One, the Sun is not a
low energy lamp, any attempt we can make to replicate its effect uses
energy in quantity.

Low voltage Halogen is still a good choice for spotlighting, LED is
close to the 35W halogen level now, but at 20 quid plus a lamp, its a
long payback period.

CMH/CDM ceramic metal halide is also a good spotlighting choice for
very high intensity, expensive intially but running and maintenance
costs are low, lamp life 12K hrs + efficiency 33%+ better than
halogen.

Metal halide in the 75/150W flavours can give you a big wadge of light
to create presence in a window, high street clothes shops , or high
intensity sparkle , high street jewellers.

LED is available for high intensity long throw applications and may
make sense if your opening hours are long or natural light is non-
existent, takes these conditions to make payback realistic.

LED for close up lighting is a no brainer, it can be installed into
shelf undersides and incorporated within fittings to create displays
that glow with no visible source.LED tape in the best quality white
you can afford and a router....

Built some shelves for a project using twin wall polycarb roofing
sheet and run 10mm wide LED tape down the very front flute, it lights
the object on the shelf and creates an infinty mirror look below it,
cheap and effective trick.




So - not wanting to start a 'holy war' on leds vs halogen - but what's
peoples experience on lighting such a retail outlet....

..my gut feel is more fluoro's - not pretty, but highly effective
and cheap to run...??

Highly effective at just lighting the space not at creating a retail
enviroment conducive to shifting stock.

Fluro for the cleaners lights as already suggested ;-)

One other thing to bear in mind when choosing sources, Colour
Rendering Index, CRI, closer to 100 , daylight, more accurate colours
will appear.
Only source that does have a CRI of 100 apart from the Sun is halogen,
all other sources will distort colours slightly in one way or another,
fluro tends to have too much green, LED is very lacking in red, this
may be important with some of your displayed pieces.

Cheers
Adam



Thanks
Adrian

On 07/02/2012 09:00, Adrian Brentnall wrote:
HI Folks
A group of us are setting up a co-operative art & crafts gallery / shop
out here in south-west Ireland.

We've pretty much decided on some premises - but they're going to need
some work to improve the lighting. Decent lighting's pretty important to
show off the items that are on sale. However, we're on a fairly tight
budget - not just for the capital items (light fittings etc) but also
for the ongoing running costs.

Premises currently have 2 double fluorescents (5ft or so?) in the larger
room (24ft x 10ft) and one double flouro in the smaller room (13ft x
8ft). There are also two recessed downlighters fitted with led spots -
but they don;t seem to contribute much light (if any!!)

Spotlights would be great, but we're concerned about installation &
running costs - and I've used led spots in the past to replace the
little 50w halogen spots on an exhibition stand and they are simply not
bright enough.

So - not wanting to start a 'holy war' on leds vs halogen - but what's
peoples experience on lighting such a retail outlet....

..my gut feel is more fluoro's - not pretty, but highly effective
and cheap to run...??

Indeed, and probably the "backbone" of the general illumination in the
shop. The "non glare" fittings often used in offices with lots of
computer screens can look somewhat more attractive than the traditional
ceiling mounted batten holders.

For sparkly displays, small bright sources will get the best results. If
you use halogen spots, then low voltage are much better than mains (in
terms of quality of light, lamp life, and efficiency), especially with
the dichroic lamps which throw less heat forward, and add colourful
splashes of light from the side/rear.

Metal halides are popular in shops due to a good combination of lower
running costs, bright lights with good specular reflection
characteristics (makes shiny things sparkle!)

Wall washers create more atmosphere than blanket central lighting.

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

On 07/02/2012 10:29, Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In ,
Adrian writes:
HI Folks
A group of us are setting up a co-operative art& crafts gallery / shop
out here in south-west Ireland.

We've pretty much decided on some premises - but they're going to need
some work to improve the lighting. Decent lighting's pretty important to
show off the items that are on sale. However, we're on a fairly tight
budget - not just for the capital items (light fittings etc) but also
for the ongoing running costs.

Premises currently have 2 double fluorescents (5ft or so?) in the larger
room (24ft x 10ft) and one double flouro in the smaller room (13ft x
8ft). There are also two recessed downlighters fitted with led spots -
but they don;t seem to contribute much light (if any!!)

Spotlights would be great, but we're concerned about installation&
running costs - and I've used led spots in the past to replace the
little 50w halogen spots on an exhibition stand and they are simply not
bright enough.

So - not wanting to start a 'holy war' on leds vs halogen - but what's
peoples experience on lighting such a retail outlet....

..my gut feel is more fluoro's - not pretty, but highly effective
and cheap to run...??

Yes. Aim on lighting up the goods well. Look at using perimeter
wall washers, which can be very effective for goods around the
walls, zero glare. A light coloured decoration scheme would mean
reflected light will probably be enough for general lighting in
isles without needing much additional, except perhaps some task
lighting for areas like the till and to catch customers' faces
well if using CCTV.

No aisles to worry about - the place is fairly small.
I had thought about the 'floodlight' approach. Ceilings are reasonably
high, so should be possible to get a reasonable angle on the floods so
as to avoid people standing in their own shadow.

No plans for CCTV .... yet!


Could retain the existing lights as cleaner's lighting, if you
don't need them for the shop's operation and they're not too
unsightly.


Might be a plan.
The current fluoro tubes are grubby and of unknown vintage - so maybe
we'll clean / replace them first and see what that does.

Thanks

On 07/02/2012 11:22, NT wrote:
On Feb 7, 10:16 am, Adrian
wrote:
On 07/02/2012 09:59, NT wrote:
On Feb 7, 9:00 am, Adrian wrote:


HI Folks
A group of us are setting up a co-operative art& crafts gallery / shop
out here in south-west Ireland.

We've pretty much decided on some premises - but they're going to need
some work to improve the lighting. Decent lighting's pretty important to
show off the items that are on sale. However, we're on a fairly tight
budget - not just for the capital items (light fittings etc) but also
for the ongoing running costs.

Premises currently have 2 double fluorescents (5ft or so?) in the larger
room (24ft x 10ft) and one double flouro in the smaller room (13ft x
8ft). There are also two recessed downlighters fitted with led spots -
but they don;t seem to contribute much light (if any!!)

Spotlights would be great, but we're concerned about installation&
running costs - and I've used led spots in the past to replace the
little 50w halogen spots on an exhibition stand and they are simply not
bright enough.

So - not wanting to start a 'holy war' on leds vs halogen - but what's
peoples experience on lighting such a retail outlet....

..my gut feel is more fluoro's - not pretty, but highly effective
and cheap to run...??

Thanks
Adrian

Fluorescent is cheap, hence its been so popular for so long. With the
old linear tubes, the longer the tube the more efficient, both
energywise and moneywise. So whatever you do, at least a percentage of
flourescent helps keep costs down. Spotlighting is pricey to run on a
per result basis.

Yes - thanks. Sounds like a mix of spot& fluoro is the way to go.
My folks ran a gifts / jewellery / clocks& watches shop back in the
80's - and I remember Dad saying that, some days in the winter, the
spotlights cost more than the shop took... so we want to avoid that
scenario if at all possible...

Found a document from Sustainable Energy Ireland

http://www.seai.ie/Publications/Your...ons/Energy_Gui...

which more or less discounts led lighting other than close-up for
localised lighting (which was my experience with the display stand).

I had very good results at shows with a couple of 150w halogen
'mini-floods' - but they look a bit agricultural for 'gallery' use. Also
- at the shows, 'somebody else' was paying for the electricity!g

Thanks
Adrian

If you're lighting glassware, you can sit the glass directly on a very
low power light source, eg a small CFL in a box with a hole in the
top. Cover the box with cloth. Very cost efficient, and good at making
the pieces stand out.

Yes - good idea.
Most of my glass (stained / fused) are panels and are best displayed
with light behind them (that'll be a challenge!)

I dont know whether you can get away with just one spotlight per item.
The nearer the spots are to the product, the lower power they can be,
so there is often mileage in having 5 watt spots right up almost
touching the item.

Yes - one of the craftspeople is an excellent silver/gold-smith - in his
own shop he has some small display cabinets with tiny spot built in,
very close to the items on display. Looks effective.


NT

On 07/02/2012 12:11, Nightjar wrote:
On 07/02/2012 10:11, Adrian Brentnall wrote:
On 07/02/2012 09:55, Nightjar wrote:
...
... Unless, of course, you simply plan to heap lots of stuff
inside and hope that people will find something they want. They probably
won't bother to look though.

Touch of negativity going on here..?

Merely an observation on many arts and craft places, of which we have
quite a few in the area.

Fairy nuff!
We have a very good idea of how we _don't_ want it to look
- try to get away from the 'craft market' look and more 'studio/gallery'
It's going to be an interesting time!


We _do_ understand the need to have attractive, bright, uncluttered
displays - which is why I'm asking about lighting....

A lot of retailers don't seem to understand the principles of displaying
goods.

Agreed.
And it's one of those things like background music in films - if done
properly it's not 'obvious', but it has the desired effect.


As an additional thought, you can get low energy downlighters, which,
while not as good as steerable spots, could give you areas of higher
light levels where you can place displays, without being too expensive
to run.

Ah - good idea.
The SEI document that I referenced elsewhere has a very interesting
comparison section, which makes it very clear why LED spotlights have
some way to go g

You're right about the shop window - we need to work on making that as
enticing as possible...

Fun, fun, fun!

Thanks
Adrian

On Feb 7, 9:00*am, Adrian Brentnall wrote:
HI Folks
A group of us are setting up a co-operative art & crafts gallery / shop
out here in south-west Ireland.

We've pretty much decided on some premises - but they're going to need
some work to improve the lighting. Decent lighting's pretty important to
show off the items that are on sale. However, we're on a fairly tight
budget - not just for the capital items (light fittings etc) but also
for the ongoing running costs.

Premises currently have 2 double fluorescents (5ft or so?) in the larger
room (24ft x 10ft) and one double flouro in the smaller room (13ft x
8ft). There are also two recessed downlighters fitted with led spots -
but they don;t seem to contribute much light (if any!!)

Spotlights would be great, but we're concerned about installation &
running costs - and I've used led spots in the past to replace the
little 50w halogen spots on an exhibition stand and they are simply not
bright enough.

So - not wanting to start a 'holy war' on leds vs halogen - but what's
peoples experience on lighting such a retail outlet....

..my gut feel is more fluoro's - not pretty, but highly effective
and cheap to run...??

Thanks
Adrian

Reading the answers it looks like this lot could make a useful wiki
article. I suppose it would be for diy shopfitting, but not house
maintenance.


NT

On Feb 7, 2:22*pm, Adrian Brentnall wrote:
On 07/02/2012 12:11, Nightjar wrote:

On 07/02/2012 10:11, Adrian Brentnall wrote:
On 07/02/2012 09:55, Nightjar wrote:
...
... Unless, of course, you simply plan to heap lots of stuff
inside and hope that people will find something they want. They probably
won't bother to look though.

Touch of negativity going on here..?

Merely an observation on many arts and craft places, of which we have
quite a few in the area.

Fairy nuff!
We have a very good idea of how we _don't_ want it to look
- try to get away from the 'craft market' look and more 'studio/gallery'
It's going to be an interesting time!



We _do_ understand the need to have attractive, bright, uncluttered
displays - which is why I'm asking about lighting....

A lot of retailers don't seem to understand the principles of displaying
goods.

Agreed.
And it's one of those things like background music in films - if done
properly it's not 'obvious', but it has the desired effect.



As an additional thought, you can get low energy downlighters, which,
while not as good as steerable spots, could give you areas of higher
light levels where you can place displays, without being too expensive
to run.

Ah - good idea.
The SEI document that I referenced elsewhere has a very interesting
comparison section, which makes it very clear why LED spotlights have
some way to go g

You're right about the shop window - we need to work on making that as
enticing as possible...

Fun, fun, fun!

Thanks
Adrian

HI Adrian (that glue held well !)

Just my tuppence worth but switching is important as well. You will
need to be able to control the lights for maximum efficiency. Perhaps
a well lit entrance with the rear lighting being brought up when
necessary.

We also use a master switch beside the exit door which controls all
the lighting in the premises. Useful for a large premises.

Paul Mc Cann

On 07/02/2012 14:58, NT wrote:
On Feb 7, 9:00 am, Adrian wrote:
HI Folks
A group of us are setting up a co-operative art& crafts gallery / shop
out here in south-west Ireland.

We've pretty much decided on some premises - but they're going to need
some work to improve the lighting. Decent lighting's pretty important to
show off the items that are on sale. However, we're on a fairly tight
budget - not just for the capital items (light fittings etc) but also
for the ongoing running costs.

Premises currently have 2 double fluorescents (5ft or so?) in the larger
room (24ft x 10ft) and one double flouro in the smaller room (13ft x
8ft). There are also two recessed downlighters fitted with led spots -
but they don;t seem to contribute much light (if any!!)

Spotlights would be great, but we're concerned about installation&
running costs - and I've used led spots in the past to replace the
little 50w halogen spots on an exhibition stand and they are simply not
bright enough.

So - not wanting to start a 'holy war' on leds vs halogen - but what's
peoples experience on lighting such a retail outlet....

..my gut feel is more fluoro's - not pretty, but highly effective
and cheap to run...??

Thanks
Adrian

Reading the answers it looks like this lot could make a useful wiki
article. I suppose it would be for diy shopfitting, but not house
maintenance.


HI
Yes - it did seem quite straightforward and 'fluff-free'....
I'm sure they'd be happy to let you reproduce it if you asked them -
and, if you didn't, then they'd probably never know! g

A

On 07/02/2012 15:00, fred wrote:
On Feb 7, 2:22 pm, Adrian wrote:
On 07/02/2012 12:11, Nightjar wrote:

On 07/02/2012 10:11, Adrian Brentnall wrote:
On 07/02/2012 09:55, Nightjar wrote:
...
... Unless, of course, you simply plan to heap lots of stuff
inside and hope that people will find something they want. They probably
won't bother to look though.

Touch of negativity going on here..?

Merely an observation on many arts and craft places, of which we have
quite a few in the area.

Fairy nuff!
We have a very good idea of how we _don't_ want it to look
- try to get away from the 'craft market' look and more 'studio/gallery'
It's going to be an interesting time!



We _do_ understand the need to have attractive, bright, uncluttered
displays - which is why I'm asking about lighting....

A lot of retailers don't seem to understand the principles of displaying
goods.

Agreed.
And it's one of those things like background music in films - if done
properly it's not 'obvious', but it has the desired effect.



As an additional thought, you can get low energy downlighters, which,
while not as good as steerable spots, could give you areas of higher
light levels where you can place displays, without being too expensive
to run.

Ah - good idea.
The SEI document that I referenced elsewhere has a very interesting
comparison section, which makes it very clear why LED spotlights have
some way to gog

You're right about the shop window - we need to work on making that as
enticing as possible...

Fun, fun, fun!

Thanks
Adrian

HI Adrian (that glue held well !)

HI Paul
Ah - that's good news. Good stuff, that glue!


Just my tuppence worth but switching is important as well. You will
need to be able to control the lights for maximum efficiency. Perhaps
a well lit entrance with the rear lighting being brought up when
necessary.

My initial thought was 'hang on - it's only a little shop' - but, having
said that, there are two rooms, and one could easily pop a PIR in place
of the light switch for the back room... which could then be illumined
only when folks/customers were present... Might save a few quid on the
electricity bill, so long as the on/off switching didn't kill the bulbs
prematurely g


We also use a master switch beside the exit door which controls all
the lighting in the premises. Useful for a large premises.

Yes - there's one of those. Seems to be wired in flex rather than cable,
which in turn is housed within a piece of square trunking that's fallen
off the ceiling g. Job #1.

At least it comes to the main door @ the front of the premises, so you
can kill the shop lights on the way out at night.
I guess it might be worthwhile keeping some low-energy lighting on
inside the shop at night just for security purposes.
And we'll want the shop window lighting on some kind of timed display....

Suddenly it becomes a project!
And that's even before you start thinking about stuff like shopfitting...

Adrian

On 07/02/2012 14:16, Adrian Brentnall wrote:
....
Yes - good idea.
Most of my glass (stained / fused) are panels and are best displayed
with light behind them (that'll be a challenge!)...

A thick piece of perspex sheet (c10mm), tapered from bottom to top, with
the back polished and the front roughened, mounted on a box that
contains a light* that shines into the edge of the sheet. That will
produce a fairly evenly lit sheet that also acts as a display stand.

* I used to use strip lights sold for under kitchen cupboards, but a row
of LEDs would probably do as well these days, as well as producing less
heat for less power.

Colin Bignell

On 07/02/2012 16:46, Adrian Brentnall wrote:
On 07/02/2012 14:58, NT wrote:
On Feb 7, 9:00 am, Adrian wrote:
HI Folks
A group of us are setting up a co-operative art& crafts gallery / shop
out here in south-west Ireland.

We've pretty much decided on some premises - but they're going to need
some work to improve the lighting. Decent lighting's pretty important to
show off the items that are on sale. However, we're on a fairly tight
budget - not just for the capital items (light fittings etc) but also
for the ongoing running costs.

Premises currently have 2 double fluorescents (5ft or so?) in the larger
room (24ft x 10ft) and one double flouro in the smaller room (13ft x
8ft). There are also two recessed downlighters fitted with led spots -
but they don;t seem to contribute much light (if any!!)

Spotlights would be great, but we're concerned about installation&
running costs - and I've used led spots in the past to replace the
little 50w halogen spots on an exhibition stand and they are simply not
bright enough.

So - not wanting to start a 'holy war' on leds vs halogen - but what's
peoples experience on lighting such a retail outlet....

..my gut feel is more fluoro's - not pretty, but highly effective
and cheap to run...??

Thanks
Adrian

Reading the answers it looks like this lot could make a useful wiki
article. I suppose it would be for diy shopfitting, but not house
maintenance.


HI
Yes - it did seem quite straightforward and 'fluff-free'....
I'm sure they'd be happy to let you reproduce it if you asked them -
and, if you didn't, then they'd probably never know! g

A

"Most of my glass (stained / fused) are panels and are best displayed
with light behind them (that'll be a challenge!)

I dont know whether you can get away with just one spotlight per item.
The nearer the spots are to the product, the lower power they can be,
so there is often mileage in having 5 watt spots right up almost
touching the item."

You could also add to gain maximum use of window space at night some low
power spots highlighting certain areas of the shop but on a sort of
timer so it changes throughout the night. I saw this done in a
hairdressers and was impressive. With it being totally dark even low
wattage should create an effect. It gets attention throughout the night
as people walk past.

On 07/02/2012 14:22, Adrian Brentnall wrote:
....
You're right about the shop window - we need to work on making that as
enticing as possible...

I think it was in Muenster that I saw a shop that sold blown glass art.
It had a flat screen display in the window, showing a video of how some
of the items were made. Movement is always eye catching and it was also
very interesting to watch.

Colin Bignell

"Adrian C" wrote in message
...

Food still great. All ye can eat buffet for £7.95. How do thay do that!

Pre owned goods?

On 07/02/2012 11:17, Adrian C wrote:

Food still great. All ye can eat buffet for £7.95. How do thay do that!

(Answer: it's now a bit dark....)

Means you can't see you are eating next door's moggie ;-)


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

On 07/02/2012 19:14, Nightjar wrote:
On 07/02/2012 14:22, Adrian Brentnall wrote:
...
You're right about the shop window - we need to work on making that as
enticing as possible...

I think it was in Muenster that I saw a shop that sold blown glass art.
It had a flat screen display in the window, showing a video of how some
of the items were made. Movement is always eye catching and it was also
very interesting to watch.

Colin Bignell

Good idea.
I've done a similar thing at exhibitions with a laptop showing a
'slideshow' of the exhibitors - moving things are always good.

On a simpler level, one of those battery-powered turntables works well
on my market stall, with a chrome mug-tree sitting on top of it, and
stained-glass suncatchers hanging from the mug-tree...

The MK II version incorporates a 'lazy susan' beneath the turntable, for
those people who grab a rotating item and hang onto it, while the
turntable tries to keep turning!

Adrian

On Feb 7, 6:16*pm, ss wrote:
On 07/02/2012 16:46, Adrian Brentnall wrote:

On 07/02/2012 14:58, NT wrote:
On Feb 7, 9:00 am, Adrian wrote:
HI Folks
A group of us are setting up a co-operative art& crafts gallery / shop
out here in south-west Ireland.

We've pretty much decided on some premises - but they're going to need
some work to improve the lighting. Decent lighting's pretty important to
show off the items that are on sale. However, we're on a fairly tight
budget - not just for the capital items (light fittings etc) but also
for the ongoing running costs.

Premises currently have 2 double fluorescents (5ft or so?) in the larger
room (24ft x 10ft) and one double flouro in the smaller room (13ft x
8ft). There are also two recessed downlighters fitted with led spots -
but they don;t seem to contribute much light (if any!!)

Spotlights would be great, but we're concerned about installation&
running costs - and I've used led spots in the past to replace the
little 50w halogen spots on an exhibition stand and they are simply not
bright enough.

So - not wanting to start a 'holy war' on leds vs halogen - but what's
peoples experience on lighting such a retail outlet....

..my gut feel is more fluoro's - not pretty, but highly effective
and cheap to run...??

Thanks
Adrian

Reading the answers it looks like this lot could make a useful wiki
article. I suppose it would be for diy shopfitting, but not house
maintenance.

HI
Yes - it did seem quite straightforward and 'fluff-free'....
I'm sure they'd be happy to let you reproduce it if you asked them -
and, if you didn't, then they'd probably never know! g

A

"Most of my glass (stained / fused) are panels and are best displayed
with light behind them (that'll be a challenge!)
*
* I dont know whether you can get away with just one spotlight per item.
* The nearer the spots are to the product, the lower power they can be,
* so there is often mileage in having 5 watt spots right up almost
* touching the item."

You could also add to gain maximum use of window space at night some low
power spots highlighting certain areas of the shop but on a sort of
timer so it changes throughout the night. I saw this done in a
hairdressers and was impressive. With it being totally dark even low
wattage should create an effect. It gets attention throughout the night
as people walk past.

....switch them every 5 seconds for max attention.


NT

On Feb 7, 4:46*pm, Adrian Brentnall wrote:
On 07/02/2012 14:58, NT wrote:

On Feb 7, 9:00 am, Adrian *wrote:
HI Folks
A group of us are setting up a co-operative art& *crafts gallery / shop
out here in south-west Ireland.

We've pretty much decided on some premises - but they're going to need
some work to improve the lighting. Decent lighting's pretty important to
show off the items that are on sale. However, we're on a fairly tight
budget - not just for the capital items (light fittings etc) but also
for the ongoing running costs.

Premises currently have 2 double fluorescents (5ft or so?) in the larger
room (24ft x 10ft) and one double flouro in the smaller room (13ft x
8ft). There are also two recessed downlighters fitted with led spots -
but they don;t seem to contribute much light (if any!!)

Spotlights would be great, but we're concerned about installation&
running costs - and I've used led spots in the past to replace the
little 50w halogen spots on an exhibition stand and they are simply not
bright enough.

So - not wanting to start a 'holy war' on leds vs halogen - but what's
peoples experience on lighting such a retail outlet....

..my gut feel is more fluoro's - not pretty, but highly effective
and cheap to run...??

Thanks
Adrian

Reading the answers it looks like this lot could make a useful wiki
article. I suppose it would be for diy shopfitting, but not house
maintenance.

HI
Yes - it did seem quite straightforward and 'fluff-free'....
I'm sure they'd be happy to let you reproduce it if you asked them -
and, if you didn't, then they'd probably never know! g

A

Copyright issues can be avoided by rephrasing everything.


NT

In article ,
Adrian Brentnall writes:

Yes - thanks. Sounds like a mix of spot & fluoro is the way to go.
My folks ran a gifts / jewellery / clocks & watches shop back in the
80's - and I remember Dad saying that, some days in the winter, the
spotlights cost more than the shop took... so we want to avoid that
scenario if at all possible...

Found a document from Sustainable Energy Ireland

http://www.seai.ie/Publications/Your..._Guide_FNL.pdf

which more or less discounts led lighting other than close-up for
localised lighting (which was my experience with the display stand).

That document is way out of date on LED lighting.
Many stores are now switching to LED lighting to save money
over fluorecent. However, I didn't suggest it for you because
it's a significant capital investment up front, which doesn't
fit your constraint. LED lighting will get more efficient
and capital costs will drop, making it more viable as time
goes on.

I had very good results at shows with a couple of 150w halogen
'mini-floods' - but they look a bit agricultural for 'gallery' use. Also
- at the shows, 'somebody else' was paying for the electricity!g

If you really must use filamant lamps anywhere, use 12V
halogens. However, you won't find filament lamps in any
professionally designed store lighting scheme. The spots
will be metal halide, 20W upwards, and LED for anything
less. The boundary between the two will creep up over
time.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

On 07/02/2012 23:17, NT wrote:
On Feb 7, 4:46 pm, Adrian wrote:
On 07/02/2012 14:58, NT wrote:

On Feb 7, 9:00 am, Adrian wrote:
HI Folks
A group of us are setting up a co-operative art& crafts gallery / shop
out here in south-west Ireland.

We've pretty much decided on some premises - but they're going to need
some work to improve the lighting. Decent lighting's pretty important to
show off the items that are on sale. However, we're on a fairly tight
budget - not just for the capital items (light fittings etc) but also
for the ongoing running costs.

Premises currently have 2 double fluorescents (5ft or so?) in the larger
room (24ft x 10ft) and one double flouro in the smaller room (13ft x
8ft). There are also two recessed downlighters fitted with led spots -
but they don;t seem to contribute much light (if any!!)

Spotlights would be great, but we're concerned about installation&
running costs - and I've used led spots in the past to replace the
little 50w halogen spots on an exhibition stand and they are simply not
bright enough.

So - not wanting to start a 'holy war' on leds vs halogen - but what's
peoples experience on lighting such a retail outlet....

..my gut feel is more fluoro's - not pretty, but highly effective
and cheap to run...??

Thanks
Adrian

Reading the answers it looks like this lot could make a useful wiki
article. I suppose it would be for diy shopfitting, but not house
maintenance.

HI
Yes - it did seem quite straightforward and 'fluff-free'....
I'm sure they'd be happy to let you reproduce it if you asked them -
and, if you didn't, then they'd probably never know!g

A

Copyright issues can be avoided by rephrasing everything.


NT

g!

On 07/02/2012 23:27, Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In ,
Adrian writes:

Yes - thanks. Sounds like a mix of spot& fluoro is the way to go.
My folks ran a gifts / jewellery / clocks& watches shop back in the
80's - and I remember Dad saying that, some days in the winter, the
spotlights cost more than the shop took... so we want to avoid that
scenario if at all possible...

Found a document from Sustainable Energy Ireland

http://www.seai.ie/Publications/Your..._Guide_FNL.pdf

which more or less discounts led lighting other than close-up for
localised lighting (which was my experience with the display stand).

That document is way out of date on LED lighting.

Ah - OK

Many stores are now switching to LED lighting to save money
over fluorecent. However, I didn't suggest it for you because
it's a significant capital investment up front, which doesn't
fit your constraint. LED lighting will get more efficient
and capital costs will drop, making it more viable as time
goes on.

I suspect that there's going to be a big gap between 'what we'd like'
and 'what we can afford'. Very early days, yet - and the project's based
on a co-operative model, where the shop's running costs are split
between the participating members. In return, they are not charged the
normal shop / gallery commission on their sales. We need to keep
members' initial costs low, to avoid frightening people off!

It's possible that finances will become less 'tight' in future, but, at
the moment, it's going to be a matter of installing something that looks
reasonable....

It'd be great to be able to throw a couple of K at the lighting - but
then we'd be bust before we'd opened!


I had very good results at shows with a couple of 150w halogen
'mini-floods' - but they look a bit agricultural for 'gallery' use. Also
- at the shows, 'somebody else' was paying for the electricity!g

If you really must use filamant lamps anywhere, use 12V
halogens. However, you won't find filament lamps in any
professionally designed store lighting scheme. The spots
will be metal halide, 20W upwards, and LED for anything
less. The boundary between the two will creep up over
time.


Does the SEI doc still hold true about the 12v 35w halogens VS the 12v
50w devices ?

So - given our (initially) restricted budget - you'd recommend 12v
halogens ?

Thanks
Adrian

On Tue, 07 Feb 2012 19:14:15 +0000, Nightjar
wrote:

I think it was in Muenster that I saw a shop that sold blown glass art.
It had a flat screen display in the window, showing a video of how some
of the items were made. Movement is always eye catching and it was also
very interesting to watch.

I first saw that for real in the Isle of Man - the street that runs
parallel to Douglas Prom had a glassblower doing his stuff in the
shopfront - fascinating, and it wasn't just me as a lad found it so;
the people stopping for a gander were of all ages/shapes/sizes.

On 08/02/2012 22:39, wrote:
On Tue, 07 Feb 2012 19:14:15 +0000, Nightjar
wrote:

I think it was in Muenster that I saw a shop that sold blown glass art.
It had a flat screen display in the window, showing a video of how some
of the items were made. Movement is always eye catching and it was also
very interesting to watch.

I first saw that for real in the Isle of Man - the street that runs
parallel to Douglas Prom had a glassblower doing his stuff in the
shopfront - fascinating, and it wasn't just me as a lad found it so;
the people stopping for a gander were of all ages/shapes/sizes.

I've done that at craft shows - not hot glass, but making little
suncatchers from stained glass.

It's very popular, but you really need a.n.other to do the selling while
you're doing the demonstrating...

We've the room in this new location to run mini-courses / demos as well
- and I think that'll create some interest and hopefully some purchases too!

Adrian

On 08/02/2012 22:39, wrote:
On Tue, 07 Feb 2012 19:14:15 +0000, Nightjar
wrote:

I think it was in Muenster that I saw a shop that sold blown glass art.
It had a flat screen display in the window, showing a video of how some
of the items were made. Movement is always eye catching and it was also
very interesting to watch.

I first saw that for real in the Isle of Man - the street that runs
parallel to Douglas Prom had a glassblower doing his stuff in the
shopfront - fascinating, and it wasn't just me as a lad found it so;
the people stopping for a gander were of all ages/shapes/sizes.

I think there was a lot more of that sort of thing in the past. Brighton
used to have 'The Glass Animal Man', who worked in his shop near the
railway station and there was a shop where you could watch them making
pictures from cork further down the hill.

These days, you are more likely to find it going on in a museum, like
this one, which has a small group of craft studios in the grounds.

http://www.bentley.org.uk/#/welcome/4525140631

The museum gains from the display of the craft and the crafter doesn't
have to pay High Street prices for the premises.

I rather doubt that the stuff being shown in Muenster would have been
suitable for doing in a shop though - it involved three men manipulating
hot glass objects up to about a metre in length.

Colin Bignell

On 07/02/2012 22:08, Adrian Brentnall wrote:
On 07/02/2012 19:14, Nightjar wrote:
On 07/02/2012 14:22, Adrian Brentnall wrote:
...
You're right about the shop window - we need to work on making that as
enticing as possible...

I think it was in Muenster that I saw a shop that sold blown glass art.
It had a flat screen display in the window, showing a video of how some
of the items were made. Movement is always eye catching and it was also
very interesting to watch.

Colin Bignell

Good idea.
I've done a similar thing at exhibitions with a laptop showing a
'slideshow' of the exhibitors - moving things are always good.

On a simpler level, one of those battery-powered turntables works well
on my market stall, with a chrome mug-tree sitting on top of it, and
stained-glass suncatchers hanging from the mug-tree...

The MK II version incorporates a 'lazy susan' beneath the turntable, for
those people who grab a rotating item and hang onto it, while the
turntable tries to keep turning!

When I did trade shows, I used to have a display that gave lightning
like branching discharges. It was similar to the glass globes where you
can direct the display to where you touch the envelope, but in a flat
disk form. It had absolutely nothing to do with what I was selling -
surgical instruments - but it caught people's attention, as did the bowl
of mint humbugs on the edge of the stand.

As you seem to be planning, I mostly filled the stand with space. In my
case, decorated with a number of very good artificial plants that were
going cheap at my local cash and carry one year and supplied with some
comfortable seating; a week is a long time to spend in an exhibition
hall without comfortable seating. In a 3m x 4m stand, while there were
product images on the walls, the actual products were quite small and
fitted into one tall glass display case 50cm square and one glass-topped
counter 100cm x 50cm.

Colin Bignell

On 09/02/2012 09:36, Nightjar wrote:
On 07/02/2012 22:08, Adrian Brentnall wrote:
On 07/02/2012 19:14, Nightjar wrote:
On 07/02/2012 14:22, Adrian Brentnall wrote:
...
You're right about the shop window - we need to work on making that as
enticing as possible...

I think it was in Muenster that I saw a shop that sold blown glass art.
It had a flat screen display in the window, showing a video of how some
of the items were made. Movement is always eye catching and it was also
very interesting to watch.

Colin Bignell

Good idea.
I've done a similar thing at exhibitions with a laptop showing a
'slideshow' of the exhibitors - moving things are always good.

On a simpler level, one of those battery-powered turntables works well
on my market stall, with a chrome mug-tree sitting on top of it, and
stained-glass suncatchers hanging from the mug-tree...

The MK II version incorporates a 'lazy susan' beneath the turntable, for
those people who grab a rotating item and hang onto it, while the
turntable tries to keep turning!

When I did trade shows, I used to have a display that gave lightning
like branching discharges. It was similar to the glass globes where you
can direct the display to where you touch the envelope, but in a flat
disk form. It had absolutely nothing to do with what I was selling -
surgical instruments - but it caught people's attention, as did the bowl
of mint humbugs on the edge of the stand.

Yes - anything 'eye-catching' works!


As you seem to be planning, I mostly filled the stand with space. In my
case, decorated with a number of very good artificial plants that were
going cheap at my local cash and carry one year and supplied with some
comfortable seating; a week is a long time to spend in an exhibition
hall without comfortable seating. In a 3m x 4m stand, while there were
product images on the walls, the actual products were quite small and
fitted into one tall glass display case 50cm square and one glass-topped
counter 100cm x 50cm.

We've yet to see just how the people fit into the space....
it's going to become clearer as we get more involved with the premises...

Step 1 on Monday morning is the 'dustbin full of while emulsion and a
stick of dynamite' approach.... after we've treated a small patch of
damp on the wall and tidied some wiring...

Happy days!

Adrian


Colin Bignell