store opening - Jolly Good Productions (Blog)

When you are opening a brand new store you want to get noticed and make a big impact so that everyone knows you are there. There are lots of things you can do to draw attention to your Grand Opening.

Stilt walkers in colourful costumes

Use promo staff to give out leaflets in the local area.
Have a DJ playing middle of the road popular music outside the store and making announcements to passers by.
Decorate the store front. Balloon displays are a great way to grab attention.
Have competitions and dicount vouchers / free gifts to hand out to customers throughout the day.
Hire a children’s entertainer to ammuse and delight the youngsters. Face painting is always good for pulling a crowd too.
Use stilt walkers in bright, colourful costumes to assist in attracting attention, engaging with the public and helping to give out leaflets and entertain the kids.
Have a greeter at the entrance to welcome people as they come in.
Put on extra staff to ensure you can cope with increased foot fall. If people have to wait in long queues at the check outs they will get fed up and may leave with a bad impression.
Brief all staff to be happy and cheerful. People coming into your premises will appreciate a friendly atmosphere.

Making a good impression with your customers on the first day of trading counts for a lot. Its always worth spending a little bit more of your budget to get the right people working for you on the big day. Don’t rely on an agency to book people in. This is the easy option but remember they are taking a cut and may be shopping round to get the cheapest entertainers / suppliers they can find whilst still charging you full whack. It’s better to book direct if you can.

I have worked on store promotions and store openings all over the UK for most of the big high street names. I have also worked for many independent retailers too. Please contact me if you would like any advice or suggestions. Jolly Good Productions are not an agency but we do have a lot of experience in this type of work and would be delighted to advise or help if we can.

Share your ideas on store openings below. You can also use the comments box to post questions to me if you wish.

Related Images:

Coronation Street fans know instantly who Bill Tarmey is. I regret to admit that until I met Patricia Penrose I had no idea. I was the front man at a store opening where Patricia was booked as the celebrity to cut the ribbon and officially open the store, then sign autographs and chat with the shoppers. Patricia plays the character of Gina in the TV series Heartbeat. She is lovely person, very friendly and easy to get on with. My job was to build up the atmosphere and let people know what was going on as well as running various in store competitions.

The store was very busy and Patricia Penrose was very popular. She had brought a pile of postcard size photos of herself which she was signing and giving away. She told me that she ran out of these after about an hour ( and she had brought loads with her! ). Whilst we were chatting she said that she thought I sounded just like Bill Tarmey. Several people agreed so it must be true? I’d like to think that this was a compliment but as I don’t watch Corrie I can’t be sure.

We had a great day. The new store was very busy in spite of the bad weather. The client was very happy and I’m just waiting to see if I could be the next Jack Duckworth.

Ron with Patricia Penrose

If you were Ron Wood of Jolly Good Productions ( that’s me ), would you consider it a compliment to be told that you sound like Bill Tarmey? Let me know what you think.