Lenox Factory Outlet Re-opens in Egg Harbor Township NJ

Lenox China has been an Atlantic County fixture for quite some time, customers came from all over the state to visit the old outlet store in Pomona. We are pleased that Lenox China chose Sign A Rama of Egg Harbor Township to design, manufacture, and install the signage for their new retail location on Fire Rd. in Egg Harbor Twp. Located in the same building as The Furniture Place.

To Identify the new location we installed four foot tall LED channel letters using the Lenox logo typestyle,  we also installed a new panface sign face in the existing sign cabinet with the Lenox name and wreath. 

A large banner was installed on the grass in front to let the public know the store was "coming soon" and this banner was modified to announce "NOW OPEN". Since the entrance to the Lenox retail store is at the rear of the building we installed directional signs to guide shoppers to the entrance.

 More photos are available here.

   

Press of Atlantic City

  

Sign A Rama of Egg Harbor Township

Lenox

Oct-09

 

New Location

Congratulations to Admiral Nissan!

Just this week Admiral Nissan relocated to the Holman location at English Creek, right here in Egg Harbor Township. The client wanted to be branded as soon as possible, so we discussed the options for immediate signage. One option was the large second floor windows in the Volvo showroom. These had been used to advertise Volvo.

These windows offer great visibility for drivers on the Blackhorse Pike, and are a natural choice for location branding. The windows have a dark tint and offer a nice contrasting background for light colored letters. As always in situations like this special consideration has to be given to removing the old graphics. In many cases the removal can be the most time consuming part of the project. Fortunately for us the graphics had not been in place for a very long time, and the weather favored us. (colder temperatures make removal a nightmare)

Stop into 6017 BHP visit the showrooms, check out the signage, wish the people of Admiral Nissan the best of luck in their new location, and check out their selection of Nissan, Infiniti, and
Volvo cars, trucks, and SUVs.

Admiral Nissan Website
TV40 Video
Press of Atlantic City
More Admiral Nissan Pictures

WARNING: Email Credit Card Scam

"Below is my payment and the shipping address details.Split the total amount on the cards below"
This seems to be a common phrase in the latest email scam I've been receiving. The messages are characterized by terrible grammar, and the senders always ask for an order that will need to be shipped and the orders typically total between 3 and 8 thousand dollars. I've been asked to provide authorization codes for the charges, and /or tracking numbers for the shipping.

Fortunately, I have a great relationship with my Merchant Service Provider and have never been stung by this scam, but have heard stories about others who have. I must admit I do enjoy playing along and seeing how long I can keep the dialogue going, as I forward all the e-mails to my card processor.

The latest is from someone claiming to be Susan Wilson, and she is ordering $3000 worth of HP Toner cartridges (which I don't sell). I've been dragging it out for over a week and a half and have been given five different credit card numbers with different addresses. All of which have been forwarded to my card processor.

Here are some telltale signs you should look for:

1. The sale was too easy. If you quote the price and they instantly reply with their credit card info the sale was too easy.
2. The grammar is atrocious. Megan, our graphic designer, thinks it was witten in a foreign language and translated with Google Translator, I'm inclined to agree.
3. The addresses are fake. Use Google maps and do a search on any address they provide, especially if they add USA, or United States to the end of the address.
4. They supply more than one credit card number at a time.
5. They ask for the credit card authorization codes.
6. They do not supply a telephone number they can be reached at.

Remember, if it seems to good to be true...

Do some research, call your credit card processing company, give them the card numbers, and forward them the emails.

LEDs, Are we there yet?

I have a confession to make, I'm a conservative. Ok, some people who know me might be laughing about that, but really, when it comes time to fully embrace new technology I can be very conservative. For the past five years clients have been asking me which is better for channel letter lighting? Neon or LED? For most of that time the answer was: "LED lighting is nice, a great concept, but... I don't think we're there yet. It's not ready to replace neon.

LED, or light emitting diode, is an energy efficient alternative to neon lighting. For many years now the debate has been raging between the new age "Green" sign makers and the old school sign builders. I've recommended neon while I kept a close eye on the LED products, waiting for the price to come down and the efficiency to go up. Historically the cost of the LED's required to provide the same amount of lighting as neon was much greater, and the lighting could be very uneven if you were not careful with your installation.

Throughout the past year there have been some important changes in the sign industry with regard to LED lighting. The cost factors have come down significantly and the lighting efficiency has gone up. At this point there is no real difference in the price of the two, and very little difference in the effectiveness. The two are basically tied.

Except, in the event of a tie, the prize must go to LEDs for the drastic reduction in energy usage, the reduced maintenance costs, their safer operation and their ease of installation. With every industry making an effort to show their "greener" side the sign industry has a tremendous advantage, our "green" alternative is actually a better product.

BH Furniture

The sign cabinet shown here measures 8ft. in height and is 56ft. wide. Lighting is supplied by 48 fluorescent lamps powered by 12 high output ballasts. When the existing face was blown off in a windstorm Sign A Rama of Egg Harbor Twp. was contracted to replace the face.
As much as I would like to have had an adequate budget for a complete rehab of the sign, it was not to be. As a matter of fact, we had to work inside a limited budget.
In situations like this we are forced to prioritize, we present the client with several options and the costs associated with each. Based on what is most important to the client we develop the scope of work.
Defining the scope of work and setting the budget determines the products and processes we will use. We decided to go with a fabric face, and a fabric retro-fit frame system. The Signcomp extrusion system is a terrific product, very durable and easy to use. After attaching our extrusions and stretching the fabric we used computer cut applied graphics for the sign content.
Typically this work is done in the shop, but the size of the sign mandated lettering in the field.

E-mail Madness

My mailbox is getting slammed. Like most businesses we receive a fair amount of e-mail solicitation, it is definitely increasing. Typically I deleted one message for every two that I opened. Now I'm deleting at least two for every message that I read.
I'm deleting them unopened.
It seems many businesses are stepping up their e-mail campaigns, but is it effective? In my case the increase in e-mail solicitation is having a negative effect. Before I would glance through some of the more interesting subject lines, now if I wasn't expecting it, I'm deleting it. This past weekend I discarded 78 unsolicited e-mails and saved one. That's less than a one and one half percent effectiveness for unsolicited e-mail. If you were paying postage on these e-mails would you be getting the ROI you needed to continue sending them out?
If you are sending out e-mails to drum up sales, don't mail me on the weekend. You stand a much better chance of having me read it if I get it on a Wednesday or Thursday.

Suzuki VZ1600 Marauder

Sunday was a mental health day, warm weather that I desperately needed. I think it may have hit 50 here in NJ. I took the motorcycle for a short ride, just down to the gas station. Recharge the battery, fill the tank, and blow some of the dust off of it.
It's a great bike, sold under the Suzuki label as a VZ1600 Marauder it's actually a Kawasaki Mean Streak. 1542 cc's shaft drive, extremely well balanced, a very smooth ride.
I've added some cosmetic chrome, no engine mods yet, eventually I'll want to kick up the top end a bit but... I'm not in a mad rush for that.