Small Town Mall: Story Time and the Living is Easy

FOR ME, A BIG part of window display is putting in the small details you only see up close.

If you walk past my most recent window and glance at it, you see world flags and workout gear, and hopefully, you think of the Olympics. I have a connection to the Summer Olympics, having worked as a food service manager in the main dining tent in the Olympic Village during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. I love celebrating and remembering that experience.

The 2024 Summer Olympics are in Paris, and my Easter egg is bottles of Perrier to hydrate the athletes working out in the window. The world flags banner and the mirror balls are from Price Break, a brand-new discount store that has opened up in the old Sears location in the mall, to much success and fanfare. (More on that later.) I was gifted four athletic mannequins from a friend in the retail business and gratefully used them to expand my repertory. The black swimsuit is vintage Jantzen. One element from the 1996 Atlanta Olympics is the beach towel on the floor (a recent find), giving the window its title graphics.

OK, here’s the scoop about that aforementioned retailer: Price Break has all Amazon returns and closeouts, and I have racked up a ton of props for my window displays from this place. It’s been a miracle for me to find props at these prices. They have everything you can imagine, but I’m focused on props that most people pass on, for now – until word gets out. It’s a madhouse on $1 day, and you have to get there early and stand in line.

I’m now also famous for loading up 50 Target egg pillows in two carts at Price Break and making its Facebook page. I saw them spread out on tables around the store and no one was buying them. I went back on $1 day, and they were still there. After shopping, I asked the clerk if I could get a deal on all of them and they said yes! I knew I could use them all as props, if not next spring, for a more interesting option – my concept was an outer space window using the pillows as alien eggs but in a family-friendly way.

For my next window, as luck would have it, I found the planet backdrop, the chandelier and the metallic dot curtains (under the eggs) at Price Break the day before installation! And the silver metallic space suit arrived just in time: Mission accomplished. The mannequin’s wig was also from Price Break. Space Girl’s translucent boots, vest, pink laces, sunglasses and a mask finish her look. This window was so much fun to create from concept to completion. (Are you seeing a pattern here?) Disco can be really over the top, and I wanted to show a little of that, with a big green disco ball, some iridescent panels, 65 coral iridescent sashes hanging from the ceiling and a big round dance floor scene backdrop from – you guessed it – Price Break.

Day two of installation for this window happened to be Juneteenth, which seemed appropriate. I lived through the first disco era and it’s several iterations, so I’m fully versed on the subject. Lots of polyester and clunky shoes. And hair. Lots of hair.

This is my first African American history-inspired window, and I’m looking forward to including more themes. I now have eight mannequins, so what’s a few more? In addition to more skin tones, I also want to start collecting more realistic body shapes too. Represent.

Meantime, I will continue collecting props from Price Break. It’s brought so many more people to the mall, and I’ve been told by the general manager that traffic is up 10 percent for other stores there. Last week, the blood drive was back for another year, and Miss America is making an appearance at Dillard’s. Things are looking up at the Uptown Hot Springs Mall!

PHOTO GALLERY (10 IMAGES)
📷 PHIL CHWALINSKI