Why You Should Consider Bamboo for Your Next Retail Display
If you are considering a wood store fixture or wood display and are interested in combining environmental sustainability with strength and aesthetics, bamboo might be the perfect material choice. Bamboo, which is actually a woody grass, is not only beautiful as a finished product, but it has an amazing set of characteristics:
Strength and Durability
– Bamboo has higher tensile strength than many types of steel, higher compressive strength than many mixtures of concrete, and a higher strength-to-weight ratio than graphite. It can withstand forces of up to 52,000 lbs./sq. inch.
– In contrast to wood, bamboo has no knots so it can endure more stress throughout the length of its stalk.
– Bamboo cannot be digested by termites due to its high silica content.
– Bamboo’s sectional composition, all the way down to its microscopic fiber level, contributes to its structural integrity.
– Bamboo is better for gluing than hardwoods due to its unique chemical extractives and is also lighter to ship.
– Bamboo’s unparalleled resilience enabled it to survive the nuclear blast at Hiroshima at a point closer to ground zero than any other form of life.
Environmental Sustainability
– Bamboo is the fastest growing plant on earth. Some species have been clocked to grow 4 feet in a 24 hour period.
– A pole of bamboo can regenerate to its full mass in 6 months compared to trees used for conventional wood which take 30-50 years to regenerate to their full mass.
– Bamboo can be re-harvested every 3 years without causing damage to the bamboo plant system or the surrounding environment.
– The bamboo plant’s root system is preserved during the regeneration process, thereby preventing erosion. It consumes very low levels of water from the soil and grows well on degraded land.
– Continuous harvesting of bamboo every 3-7 years actually improves the overall health of the plant.
– Bamboo consumes carbon dioxide exponentially faster than trees (up to 12 tons/hectare), and it does so year round since it is an evergreen. It also releases 35% more oxygen than equivalent areas of trees. Scientists believe that if bamboo were planted on a mass basis, it could completely reverse the effects of global warming in just 6 years.
– Bamboo’s dense root system helps preserve soil integrity, which prevents erosion and landslides that dump nutrients into rivers and lakes where they can harm the ecosystem. Some bamboo root systems have been measured at over 120 miles from one plant.
In addition to this amazing set of properties, bamboo plywood is dimensionally stable and easy to use in manufacturing wood shelves, wood display cases, wooden display stands, wood nesting tables, and all kinds of wooden store fixtures. We only use BamTuff® architectural-grade bamboo plywood when we manufacture retail fixtures in our domestic millwork operation in Oceanside, CA. BamTuff® is an engineered bamboo plywood that utilizes perhaps the strongest species of bamboo on earth.
Some examples of our custom and stock bamboo apparel displays are shown below.
Given the continued concern about global warming and environmental sustainability as well as its long list of attributes, we believe bamboo will continue to trend in the world of retail displays and store fixtures.
Jim Hollen is the owner and President of RICH LTD. (www.richltd.com), a 35+ year-old California-based point-of-purchase display, retail store fixture, and merchandising solutions firm which has been named among the Top 50 U.S. POP display companies for 9 consecutive years. A former management consultant with McKinsey & Co. and graduate of Stanford Business School, Jim Hollen has served more than 3000 brands and retailers over more than 20 years and has authored nearly 500 blogs and e-Books on a wide range of topics related to POP displays, store fixtures, and retail merchandising.
Jim has been to China more than 50 times and has worked directly with more than 30 factories in Asia across a broad range of material categories, including metal, wood, acrylic, injection molded and vacuum formed plastic, corrugated, glass, LED lighting, digital media player, and more. Jim Hollen also oversees RICH LTD.’s domestic manufacturing operation and has experience manufacturing, sourcing, and importing from numerous Asian countries as well as Vietnam and Mexico.
His experience working with brands and retailers spans more than 25 industries such as food and beverage, apparel, consumer electronics, cosmetics/beauty, sporting goods, automotive, pet, gifts and souvenirs, toys, wine and spirits, home improvement, jewelry, eyewear, footwear, consumer products, mass market retail, specialty retail, convenience stores, and numerous other product/retailer categories.