Ken Sinclair owns both a bridal photography and consulting business and a thriving floral business. He has leased the main floor of a large, older building that once housed a variety discount store in a picturesque Midwestern college town. Most of the ornate Main Street storefronts were built of red brick around 1900 with charming architectural features and flower boxes. Ken is pleased with the photo studio space his landlord allowed him to build-out at the rear of the shop, but he was frustrated with the large open area that greets floral customers and photography clients when they enter his business. He thinks it is too open and lacks the more intimate atmosphere that he wants to create in order to bridge his photography and bridal consulting space and his floral shop. Ken has an idea that he is certain will transform the front of his business into a sales-generating area for the bridal accessory items that he is not displaying very effectively at the present. In addition to the usual picture frames and photo albums, he also sells guest books, toasting glasses, cake-toppers and cutters, ice buckets, centerpieces. vases, mirrors, cake cutters, unity candles, and small mementos for members of bridal parties. Ken thinks that a signature fixture could make a statement about his two businesses, display the accessory items in his inventory and encourage impulse shopping. He envisions something eyecatching and originala supersized, multitiered wedding cake! 

Discussion Questions:

1. Ken is obviously thinking outside the box. ls his idea a good one for his store long term? Explain why you agree or disagree with his thinking. 

2. What might the wedding cake idea add to the atmospherics in Ken's store? 

3. Would a fixture like the one Ken's suggesting differentiate his business from others? 

4. Do you visualize a traditional tiered and frosted cake or something more abstract, just suggesting a wedding cake? 

5. Do you see this as an open-sell fixture? 

6. What advantages would there be to placing such a fixture adjacent to Ken's waiting at hat disadvantages?