Richie Crawford is the Creative Manager at the well known McElhinneys Department Store, Ballybofey, Co Donegal. They are renowned throughout the UK and Ireland for having the best window displays.

Over the years, they have won many awards. As McElhinneys celebrated their 50th year in business they won the Drapers Independent Christmas Window Award for 2021. Richie expressed, “Winning the award as a family run business is so appreciated & winning with the ‘For The Dreamers’ concept that gives a nod to our founder and owner John McElhinney, means even more…”

Richie has the ability to translate ideas into reality with visual merchandising. He creates exciting, cost effective visual displays, which not only attract customer attention but also result in increased levels of sales. Richie always stays on top of emerging trends and prides himself on attention to detail.

In this episode Richie starts with sharing his background of how he got to where he is today. He explains what visual merchandising means, why it is important and shares tips on how to plan for it. He offers advice on how to follow a theme throughout a store and how to carry it over into online content.

Richie talks about the key things to think about when doing a window display, the maintenance of it and how often they should be changed. He offers tips to small businesses on how to have a big impact even with a limited budget.

Lots of online recommendations for getting inspiration and ways of keeping up with emerging trends are also shared. Richie explains why visual merchandising is relevant for all businesses, not just retail.

Talking about all things creativity and how we must use all resources we have to make an impact with our customers both online and in store. One not to miss.

Links from Episode:

McElhinneys -  https://www.mcelhinneys.com/

Social Media

LinkedIn -

https://ie.linkedin.com/in/richard-crawford-02132647

Instagram -

https://www.instagram.com/mcelhinneys_richie/

Recommendations:

Pinterest

https://www.pinterest.ie/

The Business of Fashion

https://www.businessoffashion.com/

Patone

https://www.pantone.com/eu/en/

WGSN

https://www.wgsn.com/en

Visual Merchandising News - Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/visualmerchandisingnews/?hl=en

Author:  Tony Morgan

Visual Merchandising -

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Visual-Merchandising-Third-store-displays/dp/1780676875/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3U98MZGVR418C&keywords=tony+morgan&qid=1648678831&sprefix=tony+morgan%2Caps%2C61&sr=8-1

Sponsor

Benone Getaways - https://benonegetaways.co.uk/