Fall color blocking

Looking for inspiration to display your fall merchandise? Try color blocking. Joe Baer is the cofounder, CEO and creative director of ZenGenius, a Columbus, Ohio-based visual merchandising creative agency. Baer’s experience includes more than 30 years working with top retailers. He also hosted a session on visual merchandising at Cultivate’23.

Baer defines color blocking as “looking at the colors that you have to work with in your inventory and assortment, and grouping them together in a way that creates interesting patches of color or an interesting pattern of color.” “It’s a great way to show complementary colors together and an interesting way to make the merchandising more interesting,” he explains. “It’s an effective visual merchandising tool because it creates visual impact that will get a customer to look or draw them closer in. It also keeps the store fresh by changing the way you’ve positioned items.”

Baer notes that your inventory and assortment will determine whether color blocking is the right solution.

Color blocking goes beyond plants — it can be done with garden tools and accessories, too.

Take a look at some displays featuring color blocking with fall colors from IGCs across the country, get some ideas and head out into your own space to imagine how you can use these concepts. — Emily Mills

Photos courtesy of the respective garden centers: