WHAT ALICE FOUND
Background What Alice Found is a vintage shop based in Pokesdown, Bournemouth. It is situated on one of the most popular roads known for its best vintage shops and unique fashion independent stores. The identity of the company is based on Alice in Wonderland, hence the name, and this is also reflected into the theme of the interior and any marketing produced such as leaflets and brochures. The store is only small, however, it is filled with lots of beautiful vintage clothing, shoes, jewellery, interiors and accessories. People from all ages come to the store in search for the latest finds to add to their growing collection of clothing ranging from the early 1920’s to the later years.
I have chosen to base an article on What Alice Found, due to the fact that I did some work experience here at the beginning of October. A friend of mine recommended visiting the store after she worked there over the Summer, so I went along to the store and did some work there, which included looking after the store along with another colleague. I thoroughly enjoyed my experience there, and was able to take some images of the visual merchandising of the store setting. The window displays are changed almost every 3-4 weeks, and are always filled with wonderful trinkets and styled mannequins, showing to the public how to live a vintage lifestyle. The window displays are often based on various occasions, for example, The Olympics, Halloween, and Christmas. They also install displays of dierent themes, including Gypsy Romance, a Mermaid theme, Air Stewardess theme to support the local Air Festival, and a window based on The Royal Wedding, among many others. A friend of mine was lucky enough to install the Mermaid themed window herself, and planned and implemented the design through the entire process. After carrying out some experience here I have also been asked to help out with a window display in the future.
Mermaid Theme These images show the window display designed by a friend of mine. The colours really stand out and will catch the eye of anyone who passes the store.
Gypsy Romance Display
This is one of my favourite displays. I think it really captures the essence of gyspy fashion and style, and the visual accessories and props used are extremely eective and add a great use of colour to the entire display.
Halloween Display
The Halloween window was on display at the time of me visiting and working there. When I first saw it, I realized how much of an impact it made to the public, mainly because it was so extravagantly dressed and stood out in comparison to some of the other stores on the road. As the shop is individually run, it is entirely up to the owner to decorate in any way she wishes, which is what I love as most of the time most companies have to abide by head oďŹƒce instructions for window displays and the Visual Merchandising of the store.
Article for What Alice Found I feel that this store will be an ideal store to base an article on for my magazine. I am going to be doing articles on a mixture of stores and companies, some high-end and some low-end and stand alone stores. I feel that by writing about What Alice Found, it will show to my target market that the magazines focuses on all types of Visual Merchandising, making it a very versatile publication aimed for all sort’s of VM interests.