A couple of weeks ago we were at the Gap and I spotted this on the wall.
It’s a bicycle from Public Bikes that was disassembled and shot for this in-store display (thereby they’re not for sale). I thought they were pretty darn good looking. I’m more of a bike admirer than an actual bike rider (apologies to my cycling enthusiast father), so I feel like a bit of a poser saying this, but… I really want those posters to hang in our house. Not sure where, but somewhere. Here’s a better shot of one of the panels from the Public Bikes blog.
I talked with the manager at my local Gap and they “made a note” to call me when they’re done using them for display. This was promising because I expected to hear “sorry, we’re not allowed to give those away” (which I’ve heard at other stores when I’ve asked, like Target). But it wasn’t totally confidence inspiring either – because it sounded a bit like a “don’t call us, we’ll call you.” So I also decided to randomly tweet about wanting them once the store is done with them, and a Gap manager elsewhere heard my plea and is going to try to snag me a set once they’re bumped for holiday decor. Oh the power of Twitter. Who knows if it’ll actually work out, but I gave it the ol’ college try.
Is there any store display out there that you’ve been admiring (or thinking about recreating/DIYing)? Perhaps something at Anthropologie? Have any of you used actual store decor in your home? If so, how’d you go about getting it? Was tweeting involved? Or just regular old fashioned in-person asking? We always hear about folks who just get a call weeks or months later when the store is done with something (like friends of mine who got movie posters from Blockbuster when they were finished displaying them as new releases). Fingers crossed…
Ashley says
My friend used to work at a movie theatre and she’d always bring home movie posters or cardboard displays when they were finished with them. I have a random cardboard Fozzie from the Muppets kicking around my old bedroom at my parent’s place.
Lisa in Seattle says
Our Target’s camping goods section had these cute, tiny models of different tents. I desperately wanted a couple for the ferrets, who love to cozy up in little hidey-holes. (Plus, if we went camping I thought it would be fun to stake the tiny tents out front for them. In my head I’m practically Daniel Boone; in reality I’m never more than a quarter mile from a Starbucks.) No luck though.
Amanda W says
Our Gap has some subway art that I’d like to snag.
JIll @ Mission Decorate says
The perfect example of “it can’t hurt to ask”. I hope you get it!
Tanya Quinlan says
I worked at Victoria’s Secret when I was in college. One day we cleaned out the back room and found a stack of large black picture frames. I came home with 6 of them. Aside from having plexiglass instead of real glass, and having images of Victoria’s Secret beauty products in them, they were pretty nice and I used them in my apartment for a few years.
Megan says
I currently work at a Gap in MN and worked at an Old Navy before in IA. I’ve got an old fixture from Old Navy in our apt right now! It’s a large wood crate that my husband and I use as a pantry. I’ve gotten other fixtures and visual displays from Old Navy before for theatre productions I was involved in in college. I’m also gonna be taking some fixtures from Gap in a week or two for another show I’m working on! They’ll throw those posters away once they’re done with them, so I’m 99% certain they’ll give them to you! Just call back once in a while to check, since I know from experience, messages don’t always reach everyone in the store.
Sarah says
Oh man I wish I hadn’t seen this. My dad is a hardcore cycling enthusiast (and has many titanium plates in his body to prove it) and owns a bike shop. I would love to be able to give him something like this! :\
Karen M. says
I love the displays and furniture at Anthropologie.
Ashley says
Love this! I work at a Gap store, and I snagged this very poster when we took it down a few weeks ago. It’s happily hanging in my kitchen now! Our adjoined kids store has different “wallpapers” hanging up for photo ops for holiday cards, and I can’t wait to get my hands on those next.
Brooke @ sweats & sweets says
I worked at Abercrombie & Fitch and when the season cycle was over, we had the option of taking some of the pictures home. I took about 3-4 of the medium half-naked bodies home to put in my room, but one was just a beautiful view of a field and a couple with their backs to the camera. It really was pretty, but when moving my fiance (now husband) requested I live them behind so I did and my dad dropped them off at Goodwill.
Amanda says
This is going to make me want to stop and ask a sales clerk in stores I admire their art in, never thought of it before! Thanks.
Leigh says
I totally thought I was nuts for liking store displays but now I know I’m not completely crazy. Maybe just a little, haha :) I worked at Victoria’s Secret while I was in college. One Christmas we had these beautiful white and gold boxes with scroll work on them. There were tons of different sizes and they were great quality, very sturdy. After we were done with them in the store, I asked my manager if I could have them and she said yes, although she did think I was a little looney. Well, years later I still have those boxes in my home and they still look great and are so handy!
Karen @ bellacarina.com says
I worked at Starbucks for years and took home all kinds of goodies from displays that we took down. I remember they had a summer display with daisies in grass and the grass was made of their green straws. They decorated my room in high school. One Christmas they had these white and red wreaths that I thought were pretty cool and was able to snag those as well. I think the whole giving stuff away thing just depends on the manager. I mean, what’s the difference between throwing something in the dumpster that anyone could take out and take home vs handing it to that person?
ED says
Yes! I have a son named Jack and I’ve been dying for one of J.Crew’s giant “Jack Knows Best” posters. So cool – huge with black and yellow typography. I asked at the store and also through their online sales dept. No luck! I’ve been scouring the web for months. Good luck with the Gap!
[email protected] says
my mom worked at Gap for fun when I was a kid, and they totally DO give their displays away! Not that there were any awesome ones like this one when I was young… but don’t lose hope! It could totally happen! I would just make sure and check in!!!
Megan says
I worked at Gap for 5 years and spent countless hours cutting and ripping apart the poster and window displays before they could be put in the dumpster. The contracts the store has with the photographers, designers, etc. do not allow them to give them away and we cut them so people couldn’t dig through the dumpster for them.
That being said, I love love love the bicycle idea. My fiance and I are avid riders and I would love to have it! If you somehow end up with two, I would gladly take the extra one off your hands.
renee says
Many years ago, my local Hallmark store had a very cool Christmas display from the Peanuts comic strip with a 4 foot tall cardboard Christmas tree, a 4 foot tall Snoopy and a 4 foot tall Lucy. I offered to buy it from the store manager and she told me that if I waited until after the holiday she would GIVE them to me! Sure enough, I have had them ever since and bring them out every single Christmas. I plan on handing them down to my kids. They are uber cool!
Elizabeth says
I used to actually work for a movie studio and I have so many movie posters from that era and I keep thinking I need to try to sell them.
I need to accept that I am probably never (barring a lotto miracle) going to have that huge home theater I was planning to hang them in! LOL!
Ali says
I used to work at Starbucks and they had some cool posters that, for whatever, I turned down? Not sure what I was thinking. The bike one is cool, though!
katalina says
I just wanted to take a photo of this huge paper ostrich in anthropology and made the mistake of asking if I could take a photo and they said no!!! so I think asking for any thing anthropology decor based would be just as hard.
I did ask starbucks once because they had a cool paper cutout tree but they threw it out..
Good luck– that is a really neat poster and I really thought as I read that you recreated it somehow…with your incredible magic over there.
Ashley says
I actually used some Christmas decorations from Starbucks in our wedding! They were these twisted “topiaries” with ornaments on them (I simply snipped the ornaments off and put paper flowers in their place, since our wedding wasn’t a Christmas one). I got first dibs on the decorations since I worked there at the time but I know Sbux gives a lot of their decor away to customers too! At least, they do in Seattle– guess I can’t speak for other parts of the country.
Good luck getting your bicycle posters! And my advice as a former decoration-giver-awayer would to be extra persistent in your poster pursuit! Sometimes stores forget that they’ve promised things to customers and it helps to be reminded. :)
DoAsFan says
John, you might dig this bicycle typogram. I’ve been meaning to print/frame the freebie black & white, but the larger color print might interest you. Like your site.
http://aarline.info/hotaar/?p=1
YoungHouseLove says
Very cool! Thanks for the link!
-John
Jennifer Farley says
I always want the huge posters of classic books that are in Barnes and Noble. They are always the display so I don’t think I have a shot at them. My husband is an avid cyclist and I found this free download of a bicycle print to give to him. I thought you might like it
http://www.doobybrain.com/2011/01/10/bicycle-typogram-by-aaron-kuehn/
YoungHouseLove says
Sweet print!
-John
Stephanie says
I would love to get a set of those prints. My husband and I are both cyclists. Should I just contact the local stores?
Donald says
If you get offered both sets, I’d love to have one. You’ve got my email.
How’s that for the ol’ college try ;)
YoungHouseLove says
Haha- smart man.
xo,
s
elicia says
Hey!
I saw a store window display of hanging strips of fabric the other day, and asked the staff if I could have them when they are done. I have been making braided & (hopefully soon) crochet rugs, and by far the most annoying part is finding and cutting the fabric. I went back to pick the fabric up when they were done with them (only 2 days later) and I am still untangling it, but I think the nice colors and pre-cut strips make it so worth it. The price was right too!!
Thanks!
YoungHouseLove says
That’s awesome! Congrats.
xo,
s
Amanda says
I’ve had Starbucks decor in my kitchen before. It was super easy to get. My sister-in-law works for Starbucks corporate and when they change their decor in the stores, all of the old stuff goes to her office. She’s one of the first to get dibs and I’m one of the first to raid her stash. :)
Courtney M says
Two years ago, I was in love with the Christmas wreaths that Starbucks had hanging in their stores. At the end of the season, I simply asked what they did with their decor post-season. The manager asked for my name & number and called when they were done with it. I was shocked when she actually called me. It proudly hung in my house last year. Stores get the best stuff to display, I tell ya!
Alexis says
I used to do visuals at Gap (aka I was in charge of putting up posters and decorating the store). People would ask us all the time for the posters. We always made note and made sure to call when we were done with them. The only thing is that sometimes they rip, so we didn’t usually call if they ripped. Also, it wasn’t ever sure exactly what date we would switch the visuals until about a week before. Corporate would send us a new binder with what the store was supposed to look like, and then we were scheduled the next week or so to work overnight to get them done.
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks for the tip Alexis!
xo,
s
Jen says
Is it weird that I hear “Band on the Run” in my head when reading that title? Now I’m singing “Gap on the Wall” to that tune.
YoungHouseLove says
Hah, it works.
xo,
s
tracy says
I snagged a huge poster of Andy Roddick once when I worked at a sporting goods store!
Gretchen says
I saw an inspiring black and white photo of Suffragettes marching on Capitol Hill, blown up to cover an entire wall of the JW Marriott in Washington, DC. I found the concierge and he said their designer got it as a free image from the Library of Congress. Apparently the LOC has thousands of very high quality images, including some very famous ones, available in high resolution downloads for FREE because the images are in the public domain (http://www.loc.gov/pictures/). I found the image I wanted, had it printed and framed, and it now hangs in my home. Maybe there is an inspiring print in there for you two! – G
YoungHouseLove says
So smart!
xo
s
Kat@Withywindle says
There was a print at Starbucks that I was dying to have. They wrote my name and number on the back to call me when they were done with it. And… they left that poster up for a year. Every few months I went back and it was still hanging there. One day it just disappeared and they never called me. : (
Mellissa says
When I was in undergrad I worked at a bookstore. I’m not sure which film it was, but one of the (less-cooll) Star Wars films was out and it came they all came with companion books. So, our store had a life size double-sided Darth Maul/Qui-Gon Jinn stand-up display. So many people asked for that thing. Then, one day I came into work and the display was gone. I walked to the back room to put away my coat and my friend/co-worker jumped out (scaring the be-geezus out of me) with a Qui-Gon Jinn mask on. She had decapitated the cut-out and made herself a mask, complete with mouth and eye-holes. We ended up hanging the mask over the passenger seat in my car where it hung for years and I’m convinced scared away would-be car thieves. That’s right – I had “the force” in my car. So, it was a sad ending for all the folks who originally wanted the cut-out. But, maybe now you know what happens to all those posters you’ve asked for in the past. The workers of the store go and do silly things with them to entertain themselves. Surely they can be forgiven such tomfoolery on their wages.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha- too funny.
xo,
s
laxsupermom says
Several years ago, Gap had some mirrored boxes and balls as part of their Christmas displays. I asked for them, and have used them in our Christmas decorating ever since. It never hurts to ask. Hope you get the posters.
Helene says
I once saw an ad for the Bronx Zoo on the subway that said “Marmoset there’d be days like these.” I tried to find out how to get a copy but with no success. This was ten years ago and wouldn’t have been “art” so much as “dorm room poster.” But the sentiment is the same.
Marmoset. Awesome.
YoungHouseLove says
Amen. Amazing. Haha.
xo,
s
Christine Schwalm Design says
I have a friend who is a huge Cleveland Cavaliers fan. His dad staked out the local 7-11 and snagged a life sized Lebron James cutout and gifted it a few years back. Later, when Lebron left for “sunnier” pastures in Miami, it was burned in effigy.
rachael says
I used to work at blockbuster video and we could take whatever we wanted when they were done with it. Sometimes during promotions we had to wear different t-shirts(which always came in a large or x-large for some reason) so I took mine and another co-workers and gave them to my husband, and now him and another guy where them to work the same day every week. So silly but they think its hilarious.
Gwenalyn says
I used to work at a movie theatre and I have the few posters that I “won” there. The ones I’m proud of are my Moulin Rouge poster, and the first two Harry Potter movie posters. I have no idea what to do with them – maybe when the kids are older the playroom will become a movie room and I can hang them on the wall movie theatre style!
M Strolle says
Gap just announced that they are closing a bunch of stores, find one of those and maybe you could clean up!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yeah- that’s a good idea!
xo,
s
Jenny says
Back in college,one of my roommates came home one day with a couple of those giant Abercrombie jeans ads featuring shirtless male models – remember those? They were literally the only wall decorations we had in our living room for the longest time, and were affectionately referred to as “the boyfriends”.
Gina @ Temporary Nest says
well its funny you should say that…. I used to work at a restaurant that shared a back alley/ not-for-public-use stairwell with a Gap. One day when I was on break back there, I saw these 2 rolls of what looked like GIANT photo negatives. It turned out to be the window displays from the Audrey pant that were oversized photostrips of audrey hepburn dancing in her classic turtleneck and cropped black pants. I took them home and have had them ever since! I love them! here is a pic of what they look like in my old apartment before I spurced things up a bit. http://temporary-nest.blogspot.com/2010/05/office-space.html I love those and despite not having the right space for them now, I am keeping them to use eventually! :) So i love your idea of taking it home with you and using it! What a small, Gap Ad world. :) AND its recycling!!
YoungHouseLove says
Those are really fun!
xo,
s
Katie says
I worked at Target last year and was in LOVE with their Liberty of London decor when the collection came out. I asked my manager one day if I could snag some of the posters and cut-outs when they were done with them and she said, like you mentioned, it is Target’s policy not to give them away. But since my manager was awesome, she whispered “but if you happen to see them in the back room when we take them down I won’t stop you from taking a couple.” I was sad to hear they actually destroy most of their boxes, hanging decor and posters in a giant machine in the storeroom. It seems to me they could do something better with it.
Jessie says
A couple years ago, Starbucks had their stores deorated with little trees with felt ornaments during the holidays, and they had a bunch of little felt ornaments that said “Hope”… I have a horse named Hope and thought it would be cute to have one so I just asked and they said I could come back after Christmas and take them for free if I wanted. :-) Also, when I was like 13 I got a huge movie display cardboard cutout from a movie theatre, after the movie had been out for a while.
Erin says
My favorite Christmas wreath ia a former Starbucks decor item… guess it pays to know your local barista!
Jessica says
…was in Joe Fresh yesterday and they had some great big pine cones made out of cardboard – totally wanted one for my house…now you’ve inspired me to go back and ask for one!
Melissa says
I’m lucky in that my niece works for a Gap store and is in charge of the visuals. A couple of weeks back I noticed an adorable card board cut-out in the window of Gap kids…a black and white image of a kitten and a dog riding in a little “Austin Powers” type British car. I really wanted it for my daughter’s room. I immediately called my niece and she said she would hold it for me when she next changed the windows. Apparently they just throw them out! Who knew?! Keep on top of whoever you spoke to at the store. They change the visuals every couple of weeks.
Aimee C says
I asked for A Princess Bride poster when I was in high school from my local video store and they gave it to me. I had it framed and it has followed me through college, apartments, my daughters bedrooms and is currently in the basement playroom! Love it!!
Tomi Ann says
My little sister works at Target and now has a giant pair of sunglasses from this past summer on her living room wall.
Kat says
My husband once got two life size cut outs of Kirk and Spock from a video store that was going out of business. haha! Trekkies!