From Trade Show to Sales Floor

 
 
Thinking the idea “just makes sense,” trade show exhibit design firm MC2 is repurposing booth concepts into temporary retail space for use in vacant storefronts or within existing business.

The mobile retail solutions, called EcoFlex, are “an outgrowth of our desire and need to meet market demand for lightweight green products in the trade show and meeting industry,” says MC2 chief marketing officer Rob Murphy.

EcoFlex, which has been deployed for nearly a year as an alternative wall and exhibit system at trade shows, is a “green” solution with open frames constructed of 65 percent recycled aluminum. The 100 percent recyclable product relies on its open frames for structure, rather than on panel surface like traditional wall systems. EcoFlex panels are easy to assemble and can be stacked to build double-deck wall configurations, either straight or curved. Another advantage: It is 30 percent lighter than traditional hard frames used at trade shows, which saves on drayage. “It’s very expensive to move traditional mobile trade show systems on and off the floor,” Murphy says. “A forklift is often used, adding to costs.”

MC2 has begun presenting EcoFlex to retailers interested in temporary stores, sales areas and promotional displays. “This new system can be configured for almost any retail requirement,” Murphy says. “It passes code as a display fixture and delivers a selling environment that is complete with power, lighting, shelving, lockable storage, graphics and flat-screen electronic messaging.”

Temporary solutions
The system “makes perfect sense for pop-up stores,” he says. “Maybe a retailer wants some temporary space in a mall and needs only 500 sq. ft. when the typical space is 1,500. The retailer does not want to build sheetrock, studs or a drop ceiling to reconfigure the space for a store that will only be open for 60 days.” Setting up EcoFlex to wall off the same retail space takes only three to four days, which can significantly reduce labor costs.

EcoFlex’s open-frame structure can support up to 800 pounds; the open panels can be filled with everything from graphics to textiles, as well as materials ranging from stone to Plexiglas.
Because MC2 is an exhibition and events company, “we understand the message component of these spaces,” Murphy says. “We print graphics, create videos or PowerPoint content — whatever the customer needs, a la carte.” The Chestnut Ridge, N.Y.-based company has 11 locations and labor contracts across the country and alliances around the world, he says.