Fall 2007
Table Linens: Your Profits, Covered! By Randall Mielke

Display Ideas That Sell Your Linens

Here are tried and tested display tips from retailers and vendors that will help you sell luxury linens:

Choose the right display hardware
Chemaly, of SORAYAJones, offers retailers gold easels so they can display place mats to resemble art. “They look like prints,” she says. “People can see across a store at a color or an image, and they gravitate towards it.”

Le Jacquard Francais, like many other vendors, helps retailers with display hardware. “Consumers seem reluctant to unfold tablecloths,” Bott says. “They feel obligated. They feel that they have made a commitment, so they hesitate to do it. When the tablecloths are open, you can see the pattern.” Le Jacquard Francais offers display units that feature 12 tablecloths hanging down.

Set the tables
Trzuskowski, of T Is For Table, thinks the best way to showcase table linens and accessories is to set some tables. “I have eight tables on the floor,” she says. “They are set as full-theme tables. It gives me an opportunity to put knife rests, place-card holders or menu tiles on the tables for those add-on sales,” she says.

Grant suggests mixing wovens with ceramic tableware. “You can add candles, flowers and natural elements in the same color family to add to the ambience,” she says.

Focus on color and theme
Trzuskowski works on displays by theme. One of her favorite themes is All About the Sea, which features Patricia Spratt items. “[There are] seashells and sea horses on the tablecloth. And then I show coral napkin rings with it,” she says.

Grant also suggests working other products from your store into your displays. She cautions against getting carried away and looking only for elements that work both with the theme you want and the color combination you choose.

Make an impact with one collection
Chemaly says her products are best displayed on their own. “What really works is when the items are displayed as a collection,” she says. “The products have a strong visual impact. They have bright colors. They may be unorthodox colors, but they work well together.”

Bott, the rep for Le Jacquard Francais, recommends including company information next to displays.