A Gold Mine - Found Banners!

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Val

Val

PFG, Picture Framing God
Joined
Nov 21, 2005
Posts
6,729
Loc
Carson City, Nevada
6 months after we stepped in, we're still excavating areas of the shop. Underneath counters, in nitches that I haven't been able to get to because of my temporary handicap, places I didn't even know we had places!

We're finding a lot of junk, but recently found, wadded up underneath the work bench waaay in the back, were banners! 2 big white vinyl banners! One with the frame shop/gallery logo and name, the other a great big one, huge red letters GALLERY OPEN, probably 10ft long, bungee cords included.

Now that I'm getting back on my feet and ready to get back to being a framing fool, I've was thinking of ordering a banner to catch attention of the drivers-by. Now I don't have to go to that expense. The shop has been a well-kept secret, been in that location for 8 years and folks still don't know it exists. It's a decent location, right in the middle of town on the main street, 25mph and between 2 stop lights, so traffic is often very slow or stopped, but kind of set back and painted a drab brown. I can't repaint, but have been planting bright flowers in planter boxes and have 2 large colorful flags flying and night lights on and exterior lighting turned back on, and all of that is helping. I'm sure the banners will help a lot, you can't miss them! Landlady says go ahead and they meet city sign ordinances.

For those of you with banners, how effective have you found them to be?

We've done a lot of cleaning and painting, gathering, framing and hanging fine art, original art and stained glass art for the gallery (previous owner had shrink-wrapped-on-cardboard LE prints thumbtacked all over the walls and called it a gallery...ick!), weeding out old discnontinued moulding samples, brand-new mat corners, etc. It's looking so much better, and I finally don't feel like I have to apologize for "the mess, we're in transition" when someone new walks in. It looks cared for and clean and fun to be in there now.

Is 6 months too late for a Grand Opening? What else could we call it? We've not advertised as of yet, until we could get it cleaned up and up to par (me included!), but need to start now. I hate to say it, but the Christmas Crazies are right around the corner!! Except for one sleepy little gallery/frame shop, ours is the only one in town that isn't a BB. I think we could get real busy real fast, once we start the process and the secret is out.

Suggestions? I'll go back to the archives for more, but there's always new ideas to be found here.
P.S. Have I said lately..I'm Soooo Happy!!!
:D :D :D
 
val
go for it GRAND OPENING!~
Kinda late now but if you can find some 5'swimming pool noodles all colors. Take and pound 3' wooden dowel rods in the ground and place the noodles upright on them. They shake in the wind. Now this may be too hokey for your shop but it has been fun for ours.
 
Check with local ordinances before putting up a 10 ft banner. I bet there is some sort of local thing about a sign that big.
 
Grand Opening?

<font size=7>GRAND OPENING?</font>

**** YES! Anytime in the first 20 years, says Sam Walton. Even annually.. gets to be an inside joke with the regulars. :D

Just don't put up pictures of your surgery...
party.gif


Wrong Opening....
kaffeetrinker_2.gif
 
My job this afternoon was to make a frame for a 24" x 10' banner that will hang on my storefront this week.

It's made from ¾" pvc pipe. My cost was $8.00

Ok,.... it not a great frame..... I could have done better..... but it does improve the Art and that's what we're all about.

Doug
 
Doug, sounds like a good idea, lightweight, stretches the vinyl so it isn't wrinkled, but once it's on the PVC frame, for sign ordinance purposes, would that change it from a banner to a sign? Do sign ordinances differentiate between the two? I imagine it may differ depending on the city, but in general, anyone know??
 
I have a banner on my sign and I get a LOT of milage out of it. It says:

Support your community
Shop Local

I have had more people come in and tell me that they came in because of that sign, than any of the prior ads that I have run and spent much more money on!
 
Our town does require a permit for signs and banners that can only be of a specified size.
This is for outside signage but don't think it is required if the banner is inside you window.
 
Here is a source for inexpensive NEON SIGNS. I leave mine on 24/7. High visibility particularly at night.

Of course you would need to check with your local gov't for rules pertaining to signage. Asking what the rules are for others is useless. You need to check in YOUR local jurisdiction.
 
It is better to ask for forgiveness than permisssion has been my experience with signage.
What's the most that they can do is issue a warning and you take it down.
Also, I put signs up on Fri evening and take them
down Sun evening.
Change the message often.
 
Colleen, we've Been told that by other local businesses too, just put 'em out until they're told otherwise. They're rarely told otherwise, as long as they're not a hindrance.

I have the same idea for a sandwich board sign, not on the sidewalk, but at the end of (in )a flowerbed underneath the existing signs by the street. Fold it up at night and on Sunday.
 
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