Retail Environments - Retail Environments

above and beyond By Meisha Perrin

Sometimes you just want a vendor to execute the wack y visual display vision in your head, and do so quickly.

For Pete Trentacoste, visual manager for Jack Spade, that vendor is Ace Designs, a Bristol, Pa.-based visual products supplier.

For more than two years, Ace has provided
the men’s apparel retailer
with visual P-O-P and
displays.

“They are always up for
anything, and that’s really
important. We don’t neces-
sarily look like typical retail-
ers, so we look for someone
who understands our aes-
thetic well and easily adapts
to our last-minute changes,”
Trentacoste says. “Ace is
quick and super easy to work
with. They have never said
no to any of the crazy things
I’ve sent their way or made
me change an idea.”
Ace produces most of Jack
Spade’s window presenta-
tions and in-store signage. “Most of our
customers come to us with projects or con-
cepts at the development stage. Whatever
the need is, we try to accommodate it. We
pride ourselves on being the company that
can figure it out and make it happen,” says
Sheri Robertson, Ace’s VP of awesome (yes,
that’s her actual job title). The projects Ace
made happen for Jack Spade range from
a pegboard surrounded by traditional C9
holiday lights to a rock wall.

Speed is essential to men’s luxury retailer John Varvatos. In nominating Ace for an A.R.E. Above & Beyond Award, the brand’s former creative/production manager praised the vendor for on-time delivery despite short lead times. In a typical project for John Varvatos, Ace creates 20 to 120 picture frames in about a day.

Ace focuses primarily on custom manufacture, so the company invests time in material sourcing and in research and development. “When we design it, we want people to stop and look,” Robertson says. The vendor communicates frequently with clients during the creative process to ensure the product is what the client wants. In business for 23 years, Ace ships internationally. And thanks to relationships with manufacturers, shipping companies, and other suppliers, Ace can pass along savings to retailers through discounted rates Ace of Spade proves to be ace in the hole

Flying retailers out to see all of its work in action may not be feasible, but Ace Designs did the next best thing. Its GlobalShop booth featured miniature representations of actual projects.

Ace provides store frames and custom fixtures for all four Ann Inc. brands, including several rollouts each year in addition to new store and remodel projects.