Wind Mill News & Information
2010 Store Fixture Predictions
from the ARE Convention
As ARE's Executive Committe and Convention Chairman, I am honored to represpent Wind Mill as well as ARE while sharing what was learned at the convention November 13th and 14th, 2009.
Dan Stanek from Retail Forward shared that it will not be primarily the Baby Boomers who lead us out of this recession as they are going to be more cautious for a while. It will be primarily the Gen Xer's followed by the Gen Y's. It will be all of our jobs to figure out what they want and bring that to them. Mr. Stanek also stated that it will be a 3 stage recovery. The first stage will be mostly smaller ticket non-discretionary items such as food and drugs which I interpret for our world to say grocers and pharmacy/drug stores. Stage 2 will see both small ticket descretionary items such as electronics. Stage 3 will include the big ticket discretionary items they have been putting off such as furniture and remodeling a room of the house.
Alan Beaulieu from the Institute for Retail Trends was back again for the third consecutive year. His predictions last year were alarmingly accurate, and he had all of us on the edge of our chairs to hear what he had to say this year. We reviewed 36 charts that painted a picture and told the story. The good news for those of us standing is that we can tell our grandchildren that we lived through the worst industrial decline and recession in our history. While 2010 will be a recovery, it will be a "raggy" one before 2011 and 2012 which will be very good.
My conclusion is that their messages are similar. Retail construction will likey never get back to levels like we saw in 2006 and 2007. Therefore, it is imperative that you can run your company and breakeven or make money at the current sales levels (20 to 50% off - based on information reviewed at the convention) and then take advantage of increased sales to be profitable as improvement is seen in 2010 and beyond.
Steven J. Neumeyer
President - Wind Mill Slatwall Products
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"A Brief History of Slatwall"
by J.B. Hogfeldt
Owner and CEO of Wind Mill Slatwall Products
Slatwall for the retail industry was patented in 1966 by H.E. Graham of Claremont, CA, under patent #3,235,218 and entitled Article Display Board. The patent describes the invention as such: "my invention relates to display boards or panels and more particularly to and article-display board for hanging salable merchandise, household articles or other items for display or utilitarian purposes. It serves purposes similar to those of the well known apertured panel of the Peg Board type, but is a distinct improvement thereon."
It is thought that Mr. Graham gave up enforcing his patent since any cabinet shop or store fixture manufacturer could easily fabricate Slatwall with common woodworking equipment. However, it was a very arduous and time consuming process - using table saws and jigs for gluing and stapling each "slat" onto a sheet of ¼" plywood.
Amcraft Fixture Company of Seffner, Florida was the first company in the US to specialize in manufacturing Slatwall. Amcraft trademarked the name Bracket Board, however it quickly became known as Slatwall.
Slatwall for retail display started becoming popular in the late 70's long after the patent expired. In the early 80's several more companies started specializing in the manufacturing of Slatwall, including Wind Mill - 1980.
The demand for the product spurned the development of high speed production machines and diamond tooling. Today a standard Slatwall panel can be machined in 32 seconds. CNC machining centers produce custom Slatwall panels for the unique look retailers desire.
Slatwall has become a mainstay for retail display as it gives retailers versatility in displaying their products in a decorative format of their choice. In recent years Slatwall has found its way into the home and garage organizational markets. Slatwall for garage use is becoming more popular and is rapidly replacing pegboard.
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Environmental Accountability and Stewardship
Wind Mill's environmental citizenship commitment includes cerftification by the Composite Panel Association for Environmentally Preferred Products. Wind Mill's entire MDF supply base manufactures MDF from residual wood waste materials enabling the forestry industry to use more than 95% of the tree. These mills are certified to the Compsite Panel Association's Environmentally Preferred Product standard, CARB ATCM 93120 compliant, and are FSC certified. Through quality supply chain relationships, Wind Mill strives to be the "measurably better" environmentally preferred Slatwall supplier (LEED points available).
