Wallpaper is conventionally sold at the retail level by means of fixtures which both display samples of the wallpaper and store a supply of wallpaper for purchase by consumers. A typical fixture consists of a series of cubicles sized for holding rolls of wallpaper, having a front cover to which is affixed a display sample of the wallpaper contained in the cubicle. One example of such a fixture is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,433,883 to Boender et al. The use of this type of display stand fixture requires the retailer to maintain a substantial inventory of wallpaper, which is disadvantageous, because of the additional costs associated with this inventory.
Another problem with retailing wallpaper through the use of conventional display/storage fixtures is that they often do not include take home samples, which results either in customers opening rolls to rip off small pieces, or, in an effort to avoid such a problem, the retailer making a roll of each type of wallpaper available to the consumer so that they can remove pieces to take home.
It is therefore desirable to provide a system for facilitating the sale of “special order” wallpaper utilizing take-home samples, which obviates the aforementioned disadvantages.
There exist some fixtures which include means for displaying take-home samples. U.S. Pat. No. 6,068,139 to Brozak, Jr. discloses a display and storage rack for rolled media, such as wallpaper. This rack may include a fin having a plurality of wallpaper display samples positioned behind clear plastic, with take home samples of wallpaper for the consumer's use located in pockets positioned behind the display sample. The wallpaper display samples found at a given height in the fin correspond to the rolled media stored at that height on that side of the fin. Brozak Jr. also discloses the use of a rotatable carousel having flexible, concave display panels for wallpaper. U.S. Pat. No. 5,031,781 to Price et al. discloses a display rack for wall coverings having plurality of angularly inclined, overlapping, removable shelves on which wallpaper may be displayed, and also has vertical support columns having pockets in which take-home pieces of the displayed wallpaper may be placed. One disadvantage of this design is that a customer, when looking at the display as a whole, can only view “the outer-most edge of each wallcovering sample”. Even though the design of Price et al. permits either the shelf or the wallpaper sample to be removed, overall comparisons between samples may be difficult because (except for the top sample) only part of each sample is exposed to view. An additional disadvantage of the Price et al. patent is that the pockets for the take-home pieces are positioned on the support columns, such that a customer may not be immediately able to associate the appropriate take home piece with its corresponding sample.
Furthermore, all of the above retail display fixtures suffer from the same disadvantage, namely, when wallpaper is placed in any of the above display stands a consumer is not able to assess both the look and texture of the wallpaper in the condition in which it is actually used; i.e. affixed to a surface, and then immediately access a co-located, corresponding take home sample. Seeing the appearance and feeling the texture of the wallpaper when affixed to a flat surface may assist consumers in determining whether that wallpaper is truly appropriate to their purpose. Once they have made that assessment, they should immediately be able to access a take home sample without having to look for it.
An additional disadvantage of the above retail display fixtures is that they create an inherent limit in the number of persons who can simultaneously view and inspect the wallpaper samples up close. Although not all consumers looking at a given wallpaper display unit will wish to look at the same display samples, the generally linear structure allows only a few people to stand in front of a given sample array at any time.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a wallpaper display system which includes wallpaper display samples that are exposed for both visual and tactile examination, and which further includes provision for associated take home samples that are co-located with the display samples. Additionally, it is desirable to provide a display stand for displaying wallpaper that permits a significant portion of each display sample of wallpaper to be viewed at the same time as other display samples. It is further desirable to provide a display stand for displaying wallpaper that permits a greater number of people to simultaneously view the wallpaper samples.