Garden Center Design School

Garden Center Magazine

Training in design

Cross marketing

Designing for relaxation

Drawing attention to plants

Creating 'hot spots'

Green ideas for existing stores

A cohesive feel for the store

Merchandising

Principles of a great display

Retailing in a greenhouse

Traffic flow patterns that work

Principles of an effective entrance

Of all the design challenges retailers face, entrances are easy. You’ve got to put in a big door. Done.

Well, not so fast.

An entrance gives customers their first impressions of your store. It sets the tone for the entire shopping experience and gives a clue to the quality of your products and how much to expect to spend.

“I suspect that 90 percent of garden centers have significant space-planning issues right in front of their door,” said Eric Daniel, creative director of WD Partners, a leading national retail design firm based in the Columbus, Ohio, area. So we asked Daniel to provide insight on how to make a store entrance work.

Click on a page below to download each article's PDF file.

Page 1 * The principles of an effective entrance
Page 2 * Making the grade
Page 3 * What you should do before meeting with a professional

To view other topics in this series, select from the list on the navigation bar. Each link becomes active as we publish the magazine each month.