Many of our customers are interested in creating a wood display because they want a durable display, they like the look, they are looking for authenticity, and they want to capitalize on the trend toward all things natural. However, a lot of customers don’t know what types of finishes are available. Today we’ll show the first 11 of 24 examples of wood finishes we have used on POP displays that we have manufactured in our millwork shop. It’s not an exhaustive list of examples, but it will provide a sense of the most common finishes that are readily available and reasonably cost-effective to execute. In Part II of this series, we’ll show the other 13 examples.
The 4-shelf Big B’s display shown below is a golden oak stain we use on solid pine wood. The header sign is silk screened and works well with the finish.
The Hang Ten unit below is also a unit constructed of solid pine, but on this one we used a gray wash rather than a stain. It created an entirely different look and is just dark enough to make the white screen printed graphics pop while still showing the knots in the wood.
The Fruit Guys floor bin display below is a darker gray wash finish which we mixed specifically to try to match the color of the customer’s corrugated printed cartons.
We’ve done the Buddy Fruits dump bin displays in a golden oak finish as well as the dark cherry finish shown below. This is an example of how pine wood can also take a dark stain for a completely different look. You can see how the screen printed white Buddy Fruits logo pops off the dark stain.
The apparel display shown below has a fairly unique finish that definitely stands out. We created this finish by torching pine wood and applying a light stain and clear coat mixture.
The 4-shelf display shown below is also constructed of pine, but we applied the stain in a way that was not as uniformly dark as the Buddy Fruits dump bin display. The stain application made the finish a little more interesting.
The DarkHorse shelf display shown below is another pine fixture where we used a blended darker gray wash. It worked well with the graphics and fit the customer’s brand image.
We took a slight variation of the display shown above and added a white wash finish as shown below. You can see that it creates a very different look.
The Cabo Chips display below was constructed of pine strapping and pine plywood. Like the example above, we applied a white washed finish which, as you can see, creates a very different look than some of the darker stains we have referenced.
We made the 4-shelf display shown below in China. We used a dark cherry stain and a clear coat finish to create a rich, high-end look.
We constructed the Bangs shoe display shown below out of prefinished birch plywood. The material comes prefinished so there is no need to add a stain or a wash. It’s similar to a maple finish and is an excellent material choice for customer who want a cost-effective lighter wood option. It also works well with screen printed logo applications since the finish is smooth.
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.