How We Combined Our New Pet Products and Valentine’s Display

The folks here in Tennessee love their fur babies, and I know we're not the exception. Our pets are a special part of our lives. We have two gorgeous Great Danes, Blue & Titan, and a Springer Spaniel Wrigley that are members of our family. We joke that they take up more room in our home than my family.

(Our girl, Blue)

I began to take note that I was having customers come in pretty frequently looking for unique pet pieces that were affordable and relatable, but I didn't have anything to offer.

When you're in retail, you learn quickly that if a number of customers begin asking for something specific you should probably listen.

So my daughter Arah and I started looking for pet themed decor of the home, vintage pieces inspired or related to animals, and even a few items for pets themselves.

Side note- Did you know it's a lot harder to find cute items related to cats and kittens than dogs and puppies? Why is this?

We've curated a small but solid collection of items (they’re all available for purchase in the Pet section of the website) and chose our Valentines Display to be our big reveal.

“Puppy Love”

From a retail point of view, you may wonder how or why we chose to do this?

I’m all about themed displays. I LOVE them. Our shop doesn’t have good windows or the sidewalk foot traffic to use as eye-catching product displays. Just like our “Time is Precious” New Years display, we showcase the center of our shop, so you see if as soon as you enter the store.

A little brainstorming and we chose to create and flow our products with a “Puppy Love” theme for Valentines Day. This was a lot of fun!

Another thing l challenge myself & my team to do with any of our displays is stay within a budget. We’re actually pretty good at it. Valentines display doesn’t have the same budget our Spring or Christmas displays will, so we have a tendency to get really resourceful & have fun.

For smaller budget displays we’ll first look around the shop and pull items to use that we already have. Then, we look on Facebook Marketplace, thrift shops, estate sales, etc to find more unique pieces.

And somehow, it always comes together. For example, Arah and I were throwing out ideas for this one, and I mentioned that a piece of picket fence would be cool. Wouldn’t you know, the next day she sent me a very affordable Facebook listing for a picket fence table with a glass top! I mean, what are the chances?

 

I found the shaggy green rug on Amazon, and a large lot of used tennis balls on Ebay. I had another employee use brown Kraft paper and our IOD letter stamps to make the “Puppy Love” and heart buntings.

The last thing I included to finely tune the Valentines pet display were vintage inspired Valentines post cards. I ordered a selection online, and displayed them in table marker stands. They added just the right final touch.

 

Last, we merchandised the display We set it up to be easily shopable on both sides. The customers loved it! The little kids who came in were especially cute because at first glance, they thought the puppy on the floor was real.

 

So, what do you think?

What do you think we got just right? How about wrong, what would you have done differently?

I’m already planning for our Spring and Summer displays, so stay tuned…

♥ Molly