Style suggestion
...for a modern American storefront. Excerpt from the book 'Shop America. Midcentury Storefront Design 1938 – 1950'. By Steven Heller.
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Selling required novel eye-catching approaches
Sophisticated fronts were not always so popular. Nineteenth-century commercial emporiums did not require such competitive display stratagems. Consumers bought goods out of necessity rather than desire. Supply was based on demand, and demand depended on necessity. Thus it was unnecessary for manufacturers and merchants to ambitiously flog their wares (although some still did). Simply placing merchandise on the selling floor in bags or barrels, on shelves or hangers was sufficient to trigger the desired Pavlovian purchasing response. But around the turn of the century, when United States interstate commerce sharply increased, brand competition intensified, and competing entrepreneurs were forced to more aggressively promote their respective products or forfeit what is now called “market share.”
Hawking and selling required novel approaches. Commercial advertising, for instance, grew from a loss leader of the printing industry into a profitable practice through the inception of ad and public relations agencies, market-testing firms, and all varieties of pitching apparatus. In addition to printed newspaper ads, posters, and countertop displays, a slew of jazzy three-dimensional promotional materials, including kinetic signboards and electronic spectaculars, aided both manufacturer and vendor in telegraphing messages to the public. Flashing lights, rotating shelves, and other moving display furniture contributed to visual extravaganzas.While in the 1910s these tricks of the trade were common in many shopwindows, actual storefront design had not yet become a highly regarded commercial art. Basic windows were dull and lackluster.
The greatest onslaught of consumerism ever
After winning the Great War, a virtually unscathed United States emerged as the world’s leading industrial and commercial giant.While Europe was rebuilding, America was retooling for the massive onslaught of consumerism. Competition was on the upsurge and brands soon filled stores. Paradoxically American business leaders were trapped in anachronistic prewar post-Victorian styles, and American design lagged behind even the most war-torn nations. American merchants, not yet indoctrinated in the transcendent ways of modern marketing, were content to languish in their stodgy traditions until 1925 when a paradigm-altering display of commercial ingenuity opened in Paris on the banks of the Seine. The Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels ModernesExposition internationale des arts et Decoratifs Industrieles modernes, the wellspring of commercial modernity, introduced model show-window and retaildisplay designs that would eventually change the way American retailers viewed the promotion of their precious goods. It wasn’t that Americans were incapable of doing what the French had done; they just never thought of style as a commodity.
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Selling required novel eye-catching approaches
Sophisticated fronts were not always so popular. Nineteenth-century commercial emporiums did not require such competitive display stratagems. Consumers bought goods out of necessity rather than desire. Supply was based on demand, and demand depended on necessity. Thus it was unnecessary for manufacturers and merchants to ambitiously flog their wares (although some still did). Simply placing merchandise on the selling floor in bags or barrels, on shelves or hangers was sufficient to trigger the desired Pavlovian purchasing response. But around the turn of the century, when United States interstate commerce sharply increased, brand competition intensified, and competing entrepreneurs were forced to more aggressively promote their respective products or forfeit what is now called “market share.”
Hawking and selling required novel approaches. Commercial advertising, for instance, grew from a loss leader of the printing industry into a profitable practice through the inception of ad and public relations agencies, market-testing firms, and all varieties of pitching apparatus. In addition to printed newspaper ads, posters, and countertop displays, a slew of jazzy three-dimensional promotional materials, including kinetic signboards and electronic spectaculars, aided both manufacturer and vendor in telegraphing messages to the public. Flashing lights, rotating shelves, and other moving display furniture contributed to visual extravaganzas.While in the 1910s these tricks of the trade were common in many shopwindows, actual storefront design had not yet become a highly regarded commercial art. Basic windows were dull and lackluster.
The greatest onslaught of consumerism ever
After winning the Great War, a virtually unscathed United States emerged as the world’s leading industrial and commercial giant.While Europe was rebuilding, America was retooling for the massive onslaught of consumerism. Competition was on the upsurge and brands soon filled stores. Paradoxically American business leaders were trapped in anachronistic prewar post-Victorian styles, and American design lagged behind even the most war-torn nations. American merchants, not yet indoctrinated in the transcendent ways of modern marketing, were content to languish in their stodgy traditions until 1925 when a paradigm-altering display of commercial ingenuity opened in Paris on the banks of the Seine. The Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels ModernesExposition internationale des arts et Decoratifs Industrieles modernes, the wellspring of commercial modernity, introduced model show-window and retaildisplay designs that would eventually change the way American retailers viewed the promotion of their precious goods. It wasn’t that Americans were incapable of doing what the French had done; they just never thought of style as a commodity.
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Shop America. Midcentury Storefront Design 1938-1950
Hardcover, 26.5 x 34 cm (10.4 x 13.4 in.), 246 pages
$ 59.99
$ 59.99
Window shopping
Concept design, bookstore, 1939