) ~ U T S flnD BOLTS Building Your OM1 T-shirt Kloek, Stcp-By-Stcp

Part I1 By Pat Gaines

Guest columnist and T-shirt marketing expert Pat Gaines completes his new airbrush kiosk in the conclusion of this two-part article. Galnes and his crew a t West Coast Airbrush have used their decades of experience to create this fully

w r customized retail workspace. Follow along as Gaines puts the flnishlng touches on this actual T-shirt kiosk located a t Greenwood Park Mall in Indianapolis.

In the first installment of this article, I walked you through figuring out the overall concept and design of a mall T-shirt airbrush kiosk. In the second part, we'll continue following the kiosk through its construction, set up, and ultimate working location in a major shopping mall in Indianapolis, Indiana.

With my rough working plans complete, I was off to find a custom cabinet shop that could help turn these ideas into a functioning T-shirt kiosk. Finding a cabinet shop to take on this unconventional challenge was not easy. After

unsuccessful meetings with three different shop owners, I ended up with Schrock Custom Woodworking, a central Illinois cabinet shop whose owner was wiiling to put in the extra time needed to make this project a success.

After working through the nuts and bolts of the plan with the cabinetmaker, the shop presented me with a bid of $1 2,000 for a completed kiosk, minus transport to the mall and set up fees. Believe it or not, this price seemed reasonable-I've spent 30% more on other kiosks I've built in the past. The shop plan was to complete the building in three weeks with set up of the kiosk in the mall to follow.

We made detailed drawings of the kiosk using my rough working drawings. Once these were finished, the shop crew went to work cutting all the wood parts that would ultimately be put together to form the different components of the kiosk.

At the time we built the kiosk, electricians rewired the mall's power to the kiosk site, because we needed a full 50- amp service to accommodate all our power requirements. This was a major project that the mali managed on our behalf, as floor tiles had to be removed and the concrete floor beneath had to be cut in order to run the entire new power supply to the kiosk space. The total cost of this electrical project was $4,000, which the mall split 50-50 with West Coast Airbrush.

Three weeks after the cabinet shop started building the kiosk, it was finished. We began the move-in at 6 p.m. on a Sunday evening, after the mall had closed. A building contractor friend of mine arrived with two 20-foot cargo trailers to move the many components of the kiosk from the cabinet shop to the mall. We then began piecing together the 5 6 individual component cabinets, steel overhead light and sign wraps, and display fixtures.

The kiosk has its own internal wiring system complete with a 50-amp fuse box and individual circuits and switches for each piece of electrical equipment in the booth. Each cabinet's internal wiring simply plugs into an outlet in the adjacent cabinet, which made setting up the wiring very easy. After the kiosk is totally put together, the electrical loop becomes complete. We simply plug the wires into the hot outlets coming out of the fuse box panel. We placed on& switches (which are all labeled for the part of the kiosk they

1 control] inside the compressor cabinet for easy access. With the kiosk all powered up, we started installing the

I equipment. Everything has a place in this booth, as we

corda I -

small vent fan in

left-hand corner.

the door of this

ventilation for the

breaker box with Wires from all of the electrical components in the kiosk run into this cabinet and plug into the outlets on the right. The cu~ifrhg5

on the left control the different areas of the kiosk.

planned each area in the kiosk to accommodate a certain piece of this

For instance, the cash register, hot press, compressor, equipment storage, and merchandise storage each had a designated place that we incor~orated into our final floorilan.

The kiosk took four men six hours to move in and set up in the mall. The day after we set up the kiosk, the artists operating this branch store began the two-day process of moving in the blank T- shirts and display items into the new space.

The merchandising of the kiosk was also part of the overall ~ l a n . The fixtures had to match the industrial look of the kiosk. Details like these are a big part of a successful mall kiosk.

After three days of set up and display work, the new West Coast Airbrush kiosk at Greenwood Park Mall in Indianapolis, Indiana, was ready for business. Operating this new booth is a pleasure for the artists because every working component of the airbrush kiosk has undergone

I 68 AlRBRUSH ACTION I J U L Y - A U O ~ ~

years of scrutiny and We use the rear

outside of the kiosk for the flip

rack display of our designs. This rack holds 185 T-shirt and tag designs.

Notice the f lat wall

redesign. This kiosk works with the artist to maximize the dollars that can be brought in during a busy day. And that is what a successful kiosk design is all about. Please utilize any idea you find in our plan and put it to work for you. Until next time, remember to "just do it."

area between the flip racks. You will need an area like

this for displaying large hanging

items like pillow cases, to te bags,

aprons, towels. and doormats. ABOUT

THE ARTIST Pat Gaines is the owner of West Coast Airbrush Co., the largest chain of T-shirt shops in Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Kansas, and Arizona. He has been airbrushing for 25 years.

Here is the completed

West Coast Airbrush kiosk.

(Below) The West Coast

Airbrush Indianapolis staff,

airbrush art ist Eddie Hix, left,

owner Pat Gaines, and airbrush art ist Jason

Livery.

This chrome body form rack is for

slat wall display. A great way t o display

T-shirt designs,

this rack is available

from Naythons

Display Fixture Co.

a t 800- 422-1270.

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