21st Century Inspiration

Part of VMSD’s brand mission reads: “To provide retail professionals with the most up-to-date, innovative retail designs, ideas and industry news – and to do so in a way that inspires, challenges and motivates.” No small task, but it’s a mission that we take to heart each and every day, 12 issues a year.

When I joined this magazine more than a decade ago, our January issue was one of the biggest of the year, chock full of company listings and contact information for suppliers of mannequins, fixtures, lighting and every other product for retail environments. We included company mailing addresses, phones and faxes. A few years later, we cut fax numbers and added email addresses, then websites.

Obviously, the way people communicate looks a lot different in 2012 than it did even at the start of this century. VMSD believes that so, too, are your resource needs.

And that’s why we’re presenting a fresh collection of editorial features that speak directly to our goal to inspire, challenge and motivate. For one, we’ve moved our Buyers’ Guide to a strictly online format. Thanks to the multitude of search engine sites, we’re all familiar and adept at online research for products and companies. And you should continue to turn to vmsd.com and our online Buyers’ Guide – especially when our redesigned and easy-to-use search tool hits the site in early 2012.

On the print side, in its place, we present our inaugural Look Book (click here for the digital edition). Here, you’ll find a curated collection of the latest and greatest products, organized by category and complete with product details and full-color photos. In addition to these beautiful sections, we’ve included interviews with some of the great minds behind these innovative tools.

This March, we’ll also present an expanded and redesigned Design Firm issue. Among the highlights will be our annual Retail Design Firm Resource Guide, an exclusive trend report and the new VMSD Designer Dozen, celebrating the next generation of up-and-coming young retail designers.

It’s all part of our ongoing effort to stay relevant and fresh, to provide the best tools available to help you do your job and to satisfy your creative needs for ideas, information and inspiration. So open your eyes wide and let your imaginations – and the ideas – flow.

To view the January Look Book digital edition, click here.