Patent Publication Number: US-7900784-B1

Title: Configurable retail displays

Description:
RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application is a continuation-in-part and claims priority to U.S. design patent application Ser. No. 29/284,506 filed Sep. 10, 2007 now U.S. Pat. No. D,584,078. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention is in the general field of retail displays and merchandising systems, and more particularly displays and merchandising systems for paper and printed products including greeting cards. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Greeting card displays as used in retail stores have been made in many forms, generally designed to neatly present a large number and variety of cards in a dense but attractive arrangement. Common features of such displays are successive rows of card shelves, tiered or vertical, with dividers on each shelf to define multiple card pockets. The shelves are attached to and supported by a back panel which is supported upon a vertically oriented frame, sometimes referred to as a “gondola”. The frame or frames may include spaced-apart upright members with multiple attachment points, with other structural members attached to span between the upright members. In some greeting card displays, the shelves and pocket dividers may be rigidly attached to a back panel supported by the gondola frame by fasteners, so that any assembly or adjustment of the display requires removal and re-attachment of such fasteners. Also, the spacing of the shelves and dividers is constant, so that there is little or no flexibility to accommodate cards of different sizes in the same display, or to change the number of card pockets on any given shelf. 
     Some displays use a single piece back panel on which the rows or tiers of shelves are formed. In such tiered displays, the back panel is typically manufactured as a single piece in which multiple tiers are molded to form rows of card pockets. The vertical spacing of the rows is thus fixed with no provision for adjustment to accommodate cards of different sizes or to alter the card product mix of the display. Although displays of this type are economical to manufacture due to fewer required parts, flexibility is sacrificed, and the display appearance is standardized and generic. 
     Welded wire form products, such as shopping carts and other types of containers, provide substantial strength and open structures with high visibility through the structures. This type of construction has been adapted to various retail displays, including greeting card and related product displays. Exposed steel framing is used to support open welded wire assemblies which form tiered display shelves. The use of heavy gauge material and permanent welds severely limits display flexibility. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present disclosure is of product displays, including retail product displays which are easily and extensively configurable and reconfigurable with respect to the number and arrangement of product supporting display units and shelves. A display frame has multiple levels for supporting a plurality of display units. Each display unit includes one or more product supporting shelves. The display units may be one-sided, having shelves which face one side of the display, or two-sided with shelves on opposing sides of the display. The shelves on opposing sides of the display may be symmetrical in number and size or asymmetrical. The display units are easily installed and removed from the various levels of the display frame in order that the display may be easily configured and re-configured according to a desired retail presentation. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       In the accompanying Drawings: 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a representative embodiment of a configurable retail display of the disclosure; 
         FIG. 2  is perspective partial assembly view of a portion of a configurable retail display of the disclosure; 
         FIG. 3  is an end view of the configurable retail display shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 4  is a partial elevation view of the configurable retail display shown in  FIGS. 1 and 3 ; 
         FIG. 5  is an elevation of a portion of a configurable retail display of the disclosure, and 
         FIG. 6  is a perspective view of an alternate embodiment of a configurable retail display of the disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED AND ALTERNATE EMBODIMENTS 
     As shown in the Figures, a display of the disclosure, indicated in its entirety at  1 , has in general a base  10 , a support frame  20 , multiple display units  30 , and an overhead frame  40 . The base  10  is in one form generally rectangular, with a longitudinal side  11  and ends  12  which span and define a width of the display. The base  10  serves as an elevating platform for the entire display and defines the display footprint for retail installation, such as a stand-alone display or to be arranged in series along a store aisle as shown in  FIG. 6 . The base  10  may be constructed in any form which supports or otherwise provides a foundation for the support frame  20  as further described. 
     The support frame  20  includes vertical members  201  arranged in opposing pairs across the width of the base and connected by cross beams  202 . As shown in  FIG. 1 , two pairs of vertical members  201  are spaced apart along the longitudinal side  11  of the base to define a width dimension of one module of the display, as further described. The vertical members  201  also extend upward from the base  10  to generally define the vertical extent and height of the display. The general configuration of the support frame  20  may be in different forms which define the height, width and overall size of the display modules, and the cross-sectional shape of the vertical members  201  and cross beams  202  may be varied in size or form. 
     The pairs of cross beams  202  located at different heights along the length of the vertical members  201  form a rack structure with different levels or elevations  203   n  of the support frame, each of which supports one or more display units, generally indicated at  30 . Each display unit  30  has a display unit frame  301  located at opposing ends and one or more shelves  302  which span between the display unit frames  301 . Each of the shelves  302  are configured to have a product supporting plane or surface  303 , a back wall  304  which extends upward from the plane  303  and a front wall  305  which also extends upward from the product supporting plane  303 , generally parallel to and spaced from the back wall  304 . When arranged in tiers as shown, an upper portion of a back wall  304  of one of the shelves  302  may serve as the front wall  305  of the next higher successive shelf  302 . As shown in  FIG. 2 , the product support plane  303  of a next higher successive shelf  302  may intersect a back wall  304  of the adjacent lower shelf  302  to form a tiered shelf arrangement. 
     The display unit frames  301  may be generally A-shaped as frame  3011  shown in  FIG. 3 , to support opposing shelves  302  in an opposed arrangement, or tiers of shelves  302 , or as right triangle frames  3012  as shown in  FIG. 5  to support only one shelf  302  or one or more tiers of shelves  302  on one side of the display. Either type of frame  3011  or  3012  can be used to provide the same or different numbers of shelves  302  on opposing sides of the display, shown with the same number of shelves in  FIGS. 2 and 3 , and different numbers of shelves in  FIG. 5 . By use of the right triangle frames  3012  of  FIG. 5 , one side of the display can be changed with respect to the number of shelves  302  without changing the opposite side of the display. The display units  30  which are configured with the right triangle frames  3012  are also referred to herein as right triangle display units. This is one manner in which the display can be configured with respect to individual shelves or tiers of shelves without altering the entire display. 
     The display  10  is also configurable with respect to the number of shelves on  302  associated with each pair of frames  3011  or  3012 , as supported by each pair of cross beams  202 . As shown in  FIGS. 1 ,  3 ,  4  and  6 , the number of shelves  302  per display unit  30  may vary among the different levels  203  of the display. As shown in  FIGS. 3 and 4 , a first level  2031  of the display may have a display unit  30  with four tiered shelves  302 , a second level  2032  with a display unit  30  with three tiered shelves  302 , and a third level  2033  with a display unit  30  with two tiered shelves  302 . Any other numbers of shelves and display unit combinations are possible, either with symmetrical opposing sides using the A frames  3011  as shown in  FIG. 3 , or asymmetrically using the right angle frames  3012  as shown in  FIG. 5 . The frames  3012  provide a one-sided display unit  30 , meaning that the shelves  302  attached to frames  3012  face only one side of the display  1 . When supported by the same pair of cross beams  202 , display units  30  with frames  3012  are in an opposed arrangement, as shown in  FIG. 5 . As further described, panels  50  can be positioned within the support frame and between the shelves of the display units  30 . 
     The frames  3011  and  3012  are supported by the cross beams  202 , by for example resting directly upon the cross beams  202  and located and fixed in place by pins  306  as shown in  FIG. 2 , or other suitable location or fastening hardware. As shown in  FIG. 4 , the alignment of the vertical members  201  with the respective cross beams  202  effectively conceals the frames  3011 ,  3012  from the front view of the display, while leaving exposed substantially all of the shelves  302  for optimal display of products supported by the shelves  302 , and to create a neat appearance to the display  1  from the primary viewing perspective. In other words, the spacing of the frames  3011 ,  3012  of each display unit  30  is equal to the spacing of surfaces of one vertical member  201  to the surface of a next laterally disposed vertical member  201 , so that a surface of each vertical member  201  effectively conceals the frames  3011 ,  3012  from the frontal appearance of the display fixture, while preferably leaving enough clearance for installation and removal of display units  30  to and from the support frame  20 . 
     The display is also configured to receive and hold one or more panels  50  in a vertical orientation between the opposing shelves or tiers of shelves  302 . The panel or panels  50  may extend from the base  10  to the top of or above the uppermost shelf  302 , or to the very top of the vertical members  201  or beyond. The panels  50  may be made of any suitable material, transparent or opaque and bear color and/or graphics. The panels  50  provide backdrops for opposing shelves or tiers of shelves  302 , fitting between opposing shelves  302  of the display units (whether with frames  3011  or  3012 ) and create a neat appearance to the display from each side by effectively concealing the back of the opposite side of the display. The background appearances or themes of the opposing sides of the display can be the same or different according to the color and content of the panels  50 .