Local Book Retailer “Turns the Page” on In-Store Marketing

Never judge a book by its cover.

Chip Houghton, owner of LOOK AT A BOOK, is changing the meaning of this popular phrase.  The Dayton, Ohio based book retailer is in the process of building and painting what may be the world’s largest “book wall mural”.  The 16-foot x 12-foot wall contains approximately 3,000 titles that have been selected and organized based on color, size, shape, author, and subject – all attributes that appear on the cover.

LOOK AT A BOOK, which originated as an online retailer, introduced its first bricks and mortar site in 2013.  It is located in Antiques Village, an open marketplace that rents space to various antique dealers.  Although the setting attracted substantial traffic, its visitors were often looking for antiques rather than books.  The challenge was to generate awareness for LOOK AT A BOOK and the value it brings – exceptional prices on a great selection of new and used books.

Houghton occupies more square footage than any Antiques Village vendor, but needed something more to differentiate his space.  He approached Michael Stoff, an artist and close friend, with the idea of building and painting a “book wall mural”.  The concept was to build an entire wall out of books and hand paint a mural image on the resulting surface.  Stoff agreed to execute the construction and painting on a part-time basis.

After careful planning, construction began in July of 2013.  Stoff and Houghton manually selected books from a large pool of items that were not salable online or in-store.  They chose based on size, shape, color, author, and subject.  Books with dust jackets were reserved for both ends, while others were placed in the middle as a “canvas” for the mural image.  A carpenter assisted with structural recommendations and safety concerns.  The team used a combination of boards anchored into the wall studs, liquid nails, angle iron, metal strapping, and a lot of screws to ensure that the book “wall” was structurally sound.

By November of 2013, the structure was complete.  The final book was placed at the highest point and was appropriately titled “Reaching the Top” by Zig Ziegler.  Houghton and Stoff agreed that the image would be a woman’s face, but brainstormed extensively to determine her features.  They transferred the final sketch to a transparency, projected on the wall, and sketched with chalk.

The mural is nearly complete.  Painting on such an unconventional “canvas” brings many challenges to the process.  First, the wavy surface creates many crevices and often requires adjustments to the image.  In addition, each book absorbs the paint differently.  Therefore, it can take up to four coats to achieve consistent tone.  However, Stoff has enjoyed the process and plans to keep the audience in suspense by painting the eyes last.

She’ll let me know when I’m done,” he says, as he motions to the subject.

LOOK AT A BOOK has experienced an increase in traffic and business since introducing the book wall. Shoppers enjoy watching and monitoring the progress, as well as talking with the artist.  The interest in the process created repeat customers and generated positive buzz for the brand.

Houghton is planning a ribbon cutting ceremony to correspond with the Grand Opening for new vendors at Antiques Village.  He also submitted a Guinness World Records application for the “World’s Largest Book Wall Mural”.  This title would drive traffic to the event and create tremendous opportunity for local media coverage.

Now, do any of you care to make a guess on the mystery woman’s eye color?

Contributed by Melissa Molyneaux, the marketing director for BoutiqueVision.com, a website that provides printed signage, shopping bags and in-store marketing materials to independent retailers. The site’s mission is to provide the benefits of custom merchandising, without high volume requirements or agency expenses. Boutique Vision is fully owned by InnoMark Communications, a provider of custom visual merchandising solutions for major retailers and consumer packaged goods (CPG) clients. Molyneaux may be reached at Sales@BoutiqueVision.com, or 855-889-5362.

Photo Credit: Photo provided by Boutique Vision with permission to use.