Lessons Learned From a Community Store and an Artist

I live in a fairly small and isolated community. The closest major store is a 15-20 minute drive away. However, just a few blocks away we have a deli and small general store that has been servicing the neighborhood for many years. The store owner stocks great local wines, cheeses, deli meats and fresh fruits and vegetables along with an assortment of snacks, and convenience items like milk, eggs, etc. This year, the power company (PG&E) announced just hours ahead that they planned to shut the power down. This was part of a new 10 year strategy across California to minimize fires started due to poorly kept electrical infrastructure. (My rant on that for another day). Unfortunately, the store owners were out of town at the time and were not prepared for an extended power outage. The power was out for a full week. The owners lost everything in their refrigerated sections and lost almost a full week of business. Their insurance did not cover the losses because it was not caused by an "act of God". The store owner, sent a note to the neighborhood apologizing to us all and notified us that his family would be closing the business. Luckily, the community rallied behind his family and raised funds to help the business pay to replenish their inventory. We also all shopped for our holiday items in the community store first and bought anything else needed elsewhere as a secondary option. The neighbors all went and bought food from the deli, hosted get-togethers there and in general rallied behind our local business to get them healthy again.

This did not happen without debate. There were a couple of neighbors who were upset with the business owner for not being prepared and for shutting down when we all needed supplies. They felt that the owner was irresponsible and should have been prepared with a generator. While there is some truth here, the majority though saw it differently. The majority saw a hard working family who were doing their best to run a business with little help and little means.  This incident was a reminder to me personally of the importance of brick and mortar stores in our communities. While all of this was going on, I was traveling and talking to a variety of companies and specialists about the best way for retailers to create memorable experiences and connection points in their stores. One of the groups I talked to was "Beyond the Streets" an artist collective who introduced me to Travis "Trav" a street artist from Los Angeles.

Travis "Trav" is an artist originally from Visalia, California. His visits to Los Angeles as a child and the graffiti culture of the city shaped his artistic aesthetic. Currently his work reflects the shift in our society from the industrial to the digital era which can be observed in his pieces that mirror the whimsical signage of the 50’s and 60’s. Trav’s work recently has shifted to document current times in society as we evolve from the physical world and emerge into digital. He pays homage to the craftsmanship of an older generation while embracing current technology to produce his work. Trav has chosen to focus on creating public work around this narrative to give back to the community.

 He started painting scenes from Retail stores as both a love letter and a caution to the retail world. He was disheartened by how closures of local retail stores affect the community. Store closures leave a hole in the daily lives of those who live in the neighborhoods that touch the local business. Trav's artwork represents his message that is a bit of a mix between the two groups from my story. He both encourages those in the community to embrace their local stores and warns the local stores to do their best to stay current, relevant and healthy, because the neighborhood needs them. Trav is nostalgic about the corner store of the past where service was neighborly and the store was a place to both buy local goods and to discover new things from far-away places. The local business was historically the conduit to new products and the latest technologies.

 Trav believes in incorporating new technology into his art and always highlights the most memorable scenes from the past. His work is a great example of how to take things from the past and put a fresh perspective on them without losing the original connection. He is a master at creating visually interesting pieces that pull people in from a distance and as they get closer, they see a deeper story unfold.

 This year at NRF, we asked Trav to use the front of our booth as his canvas to speak to the retail industry directly. Come and check it out and discover how he has incorporated art and technology to pull people in and get them engaging with his art in very unique ways. Get close to the wall and interact with it. Play a song, put on a light show or find the hidden digital Easter eggs. Yes it is really just a painted wall…with a twist. You can also checkout his work at Traviswashere.com. See you there!