DALLAS, Jul 15, 2009 / FW/ — In a sea of headless mannequins, sculpted heads, even bald ones, Pinto Ranch stands out as the only store that still uses realistic mannequins. And because of that, I give them an A+, i.e. if I am grading.
Since the advent of the headless mannequins during the 1990s, everyone just shifted to it for obvious reasons – they’re less expensive to purchase and easier to maintain. But, in the end, the advantages of the headless mannequins became the death knell for creative store windows.
Headless mannequins heralded the ‘no fuss and unimaginative’ displays because it was just easy. And, in the end, visual merchandisers became too lazy to think up creative displays because corporate advertising took the lead on everything.
And that brings us back to the Pinto Ranch store. With only two locations – one in Houston and one in Dallas, the Pinto Ranch store windows do not have the cookie cutter look of corporate store windows, making them very refreshing even at first glance.
Closer inspection shows that the clothes the mannequins are wearing have been decided by in-store personnel and not someone in a big corporate office, which had been the case with many of the national retailers. And just because of that, Pinto Ranch deserves an applause.
[MARI DAVIS]
Photo by Mari Davis
