Brand, Layout & Display
Getting Moody!
Seeing our vision take shape was the most exciting part of the story so far - time for the creative types amongst us to shine!
We created a mood board to express the look and feel of the shop, with splashes of colour and cuttings of cloth, ideas picked up at trade shows and other village shops, pictures torn from magazines or copied (legally of course) from the Internet.
We went for a homely, wholesome vibe, retro-rural values with a modern twist, chalkboards and bunting, you get the picture - our country store brand began to develop before our eyes.
One of our members with property development experience knew how to re-configure the existing shop layout to fit our transition from partial conversion to bespoke operation.
Soon the shelves would tell a story – our story – from the moment you walked in the door…
The Brand: Mood Board
Pulling together a mood should be fun! Time was spent online searching for inspiration, as well as visits to other Community Shops and local trade-shows.– and there is no age limit (young or old) to who can initially contribute. The concept will come alive very quickly and you just need one or two individuals to carefully ‘edit’ the gathered materials and bring them together into one place. Bunting and chalkboards very soon became iconic features of our brand!
Once you have a mood board that you are happy to share, keep this handy for future reference – always keep in mind your ultimate goals and aspirations!
- Don’t make the mood board too large – ensure it is manageable and lightweight to transport in a car. You can then take to meetings with potential suppliers, investors and grant awarding organisations to help inspire their interest and support.
- A mood board can be a wonderful memento (no matter how ‘homemade’) to frame or display in your community shop so that everyone can be reminded of how your dream became a reality!
Layout: Practicalities & Display
CFCS were fortunate in securing an existing ‘shop’ format with the premises. However this needed to be changed to maximise trading space and flow, and to incorporate the exciting ideas with an updated look, feel and product offering for our new community shop.
Whilst research and plans were continuing in the background to extend the retail floor-space and build a brand new stockroom, we continued to operate in the existing space. This allowed our volunteer team to familiarise themselves in becoming ‘shop keepers’ in a real environment, and at the same time gave us breathing space to focus on what was needed to bring the community shop to life.
The practicalities are covered more under Fixtures & Fittings however in order to ensure the mood board brand was reflected in the finished shop, there were some considerations to bear in mind such as the avoidance of shelf-based prices - in keeping with the clean rustic feel the products would be individually priced and paper or plastic signage and pricing was to be avoided.
Overall, the vision was for a rustic, clean and practical shopping environment generating a warm and welcoming atmosphere. The accolades we continue to receive justifies the determination, hard work and dedication spent on our original brand vision!
