Freestanding retail wood shelf displays are becoming increasingly popular in the world of retail merchandising. Why? Well for one, many brands are interested in POP displays that have a natural look which makes wood an excellent choice. Second, more and more companies are interested in sustainable merchandising solutions. Wood is a renewable, natural resource that is widely available, particularly in North America where trees are plentiful. Third, wood is a strong, durable, and highly versatile material which can be finished in a wide range of ways. As with any retail display, the trick is to strike the right balance between affordability, aesthetics, and functionality. In today’s blog, we’ll look at 16 examples of freestanding retail wood shelf displays that offer a wide range of possibilities with respect to design, style, and utility.
- Darn Good Yarn– We designed the floor standing display unit below not only to merchandise the company’s unique line of silk scarfs, but also to tell the story of how Darn Good Yarn is improving the lives of marginalized women in India and around the world by utilizing recycled silk yarn to create year-round, safe, fair, and sustainable economic opportunities for local artisans.
- Fahlo– Known for its widely popular animal tracking bracelets, Fahlo’s line of cute and cuddly plush toys are right at home on the shelves of their new 2-sided floor standing display unit. Constructed of birch plywood and solid pine with a white washed finish, this display features colorful direct printed graphics and a 3D laser-cut acrylic side logos which gives it a high–end touch.
- Coola Spa Merchandiser– Specifically created for their spa customers, we designed this 4-shelf floor standing display unit using a combination of MDF with a white melamine finish and carbonized bamboo plywood with a clear coat finish. In addition to the natural beauty of bamboo, which makes the display stand out is the 3D laser-cut white acrylic logo and the contrasting blue shelf edge banding.
- Brewer Stories– Nothing says natural better than raw knotty pine with a clear coat finish. That was our material choice for the Brewer Stories freestanding display shown below. We directly printed the header graphic and added interchangeable, digitally printed PVC side signs.
- Commando– When minimizing cost is a primary objective, MDF is often a preferred choice over solid wood. We created this 2-sided, 8-shelf leggings display using MDF with a black melamine finish. We added clear acrylic shelf fencing and a digitally printed PVC header sign.
- Glacier Distilling– Wood can be an excellent choice for thematic displays such as the Glacier Distilling shelf display shown below. We used solid pine construction with plywood shelf bottoms and added a white painted finish with direct printed shelf fronts. We added PVC side signs and built the barn topper out of PVC.
- InSPAration– Our objective for the InSPAration floor display was to created a simple and economical shelf display that was open and accessible on 4 sides for 360-degree merchandising. We used Poplar for the uprights and birch plywood for the shelves. We added die-cut PVC header signs on all 4 sides.
- Obvious Wines– We designed this wine shelf merchandiser as a combination product glorifier and stock display. The slanted top shelf has cut-outs to showcase individual wine bottles while the floating shelves below are designed to hold a limited amount of product. We included header, base and slanted shelf graphics as well as dark walnut stained trim around the white MDF melamine structure.
- Jason Markk- The 2-sided multi-product merchandiser shown below is a shelf display but also functions as a cross-merchandiser since it includes hooks to merchandise complementary hanging products. We added direct-printed graphics on the base, header, and sides to reinforce the Jason Markk brand.
- Teak Tea– Simple but visually impactful, this 2-sided mobile floor standing display unit includes 4 shelves and features solid pine and plywood construction with a white washed finish. The colorful PVC side, header, and shelf signs pop against the white background which draws attention to the brand.
- Chattam & Wells– Using MDF with a wood melamine or laminate finish is an easy way to create a cost-effective and attractive retail shelf display that is highly functional. There are many choices of wood melamine and laminate finishes so creating different looks by just changing the wood finish is simple. The fixture we designed below incorporates both slanted and straight shelves, direct printing, complementary accessories like hang bars, and LED lighting.
- Woodinville Whiskey– Similar to the example above, one of the benefits of MDF with a melamine or laminate finish is that it has a very smooth surface, making it easy to direct print graphics. Direct printing on the primary structure is clean and not only facilitates the opportunity to incorporate brand-building graphics, but the permanent branding can help prevent others from hijacking your display by removing the signs and using the display for products other than your own. The Woodinville Whiskey display below shows the visual impact that direct-printed graphics can have.
- Kraken– The Kraken floor standing display unit shown below is another example of the visual impact that direct-printed graphics can have on a floor shelf display.
- Pasta Mama’s– MDF is not always the best choice when a primary objective of the display is to communicate a natural look. In those cases, it is often best to use solid wood and plywood that shows the true character of the wood. To preserve the natural wood look, we typically seal and clear coat the material. The Pasta Mama’s display shown below is a good example of a simple wood shelf display that incorporates additional accessories such as hooks to accommodate hanging products. The PVC header and shelf signs as well as the side recipe card holders help to complete the display presentation.
- Sendero– We share the Sendero fixture shown below to illustrate a few things. First, it is an example of a multi-sided shelf display with floating shelves. It provides a clean look with no ugly shelf brackets. Second, the display is constructed using birch plywood which is a commonly used and relatively affordable material. And third, it shows the visual impact of a simple painted base that contrasts with the natural wood finish and also ties into the direct-printed logo.
- Tate’s Bake Shop– A sure sign a display is doing its job is when the display puts the focus on the product rather than the display itself. The Tate’s Bake Shop display does just that. It is constructed of solid pine which creates a natural vibe while providing a light-colored background that makes the green packing pop. A PVC header and direct-printed shelf graphics provide the fixture with just the right amount of branding.
