lect the units required for our project, we need to figure out what our units will look like and what we’ll attach to them in order to merchandise our products successfully.

Most standard Gondola units come powder coated in an off-white color with a painted backing made of pegboard. Any deviation from this configuration can potentially lead to both an extra cost as well as a longer lead-time, therefore your budget and your build-out timeframe must be taken into consideration when making decisions about the customization of your units. That being said, gondola units can be constructed in a several different “set-ups.” Gondolas come in a limited number of colors, and a listing of these “standard” and “non-standard” colors can be found here. Its important to remember that proper color selection may be the key factor in what separates your store from the stores of your competitors.

Along with the pegboard that I mentioned before, gondolas are commonly backed with a painted piece of hardboard, a laminated piece of hardboard, or with slatwall. The pegboard and painted

In the first article of this series, we covered the basics of a gondola shelving layout. This time around, we’ll discuss how to select the units themselves, and after reading this article you should have no trouble figuring out which gondola units you need to make your final layout a reality. We’ll also take a brief look at how to customize your units through the use of various accessories, backing materials and colors which will give your gondolas a look that is tailored to your retail space.

For the purpose of this article, let’s assume we are following a layout that calls for a 7’ span of gondola units along one wall, and a 12’ run of gondola units right down the middle of the store. Right off the bat, we know that we’re going to be ordering both wall units and aisle units. “Wall units” are gondolas with one base shelf and a flat back. As the name implies they are almost always placed flush against a wall and are typically taller than their counterpart, the aisle unit. An “aisle unit” is basically two wall units built back to back which allows for the creation of aisles. A mixture of wall and aisle units is fairly commonplace, especially in high volume retail situations such as convenience and grocery stores.

Next, we need to decide how many units to buy in order to complete the 7’ and 12’ runs of gondolas required by our layout. Gondola units, be they wall or aisle, are commonly constructed in 3’ and 4’ lengths. Using a combination of these two sizes, you can make a run of gondola shelving in nearly any length. For the 7’ span of gondolas along the wall of our example store, we would order two wall units, one 3’ long and the other 4’ long, and combine them to make a 7’ length of gondola shelving.

Constructing the 12’ aisle run is slightly trickier. Obviously aisle units are going to be used, but do we purchase three 4’ sections or four 3’ sections in order to make the 12’ run? A good rule of thumb in this situation is to use the fewest number of units possible to make the length of shelving you need, as it’s ultimately easier on your budget. If we decide to use three 4’ sections, we not only save ourselves the cost of a fourth unit, but we’ll also save money when we’re buying the accessories that attach to the units.

One last thing needs to be considered when buying the actual gondola units, and that’s figuring out how many starters and add-ons are required to construct the run of shelving in question. So what’s a “starter” and what's an “add-on?” A starter is either a wall or an aisle unit that “starts” a run of shelving and consists of the base shelf (or shelves, in the case of an aisle unit) and two steel uprights that frame the backing. Starters are also structurally sound enough to stand on their own, however they also cost more due to the extra metal used to make the two uprights. This extra cost led to the creation of the add-on. An add-on is either a wall or an aisle unit that “adds-on” to a starter unit to create the desired length for your run of shelving. Unlike a starter, an add-on only has one upright. In order to remain standing, an add-on is attached to a starter and “borrows” one of its uprights in order to maintain its structural integrity (a diagram of this can be found here. Since there’s less metal involved, add-ons cost significantly less than starters, which contributes to the excellent value that gondola systems are known for.

When creating a run of gondola shelving you will only use one starter per row, which means our 12’ run of aisle gondolas will be made up of one 4’ starter and two 4’ add-ons. In the case of our 7’ length of wall units, you might assume that a judgment call needs to be made on our part as to whether the 3’ or 4’ unit will be used as the starter. After everything is said and done, however, neither unit has a cost or structural advantage over the other, so either configuration will work equally well.

So, now that we know the basics of selecting our gondolas, which units would we purchase in order to make our layout come to life? For the 7’ long run of shelving against the wall we would order one 4’ wall unit starter and one 3’ wall unit add-on (or vice versa!), and for the 12’ long aisle we would order one 4’ aisle unit starter and two 4’ aisle unit add-ons. Now that we’ve worked out how to select the units required for our project, we need to figure out what our units will look like and what we’ll attach to them in order to merchandise our products successfully.

Most standard Gondola units come powder coated in an off-white color with a painted backing made of pegboard. Any deviation from this configuration can potentially lead to both an extra cost as well as a longer lead-time, therefore your budget and your build-out timeframe must be taken into consideration when making decisions about the customization of your units. That being said, gondola units can be constructed in a several different “set-ups.” Gondolas come in a limited number of colors, and a listing of these “standard” and “non-standard” colors can be found here. Its important to remember that proper color selection may be the key factor in what separates your store from the stores of your competitors.

Along with the pegboard that I mentioned before, gondolas are commonly backed with a painted piece of hardboard, a laminated piece of hardboard, or with slatwall. The pegboard and painted

aisles. A mixture of wall and aisle units is fairly commonplace, especially in high volume retail situations such as convenience and grocery stores.

Next, we need to decide how many units to buy in order to complete the 7’ and 12’ runs of gondolas required by our layout. Gondola units, be they wall or aisle, are commonly constructed in 3’ and 4’ lengths. Using a combination of these two sizes, you can make a run of gondola shelving in nearly any length. For the 7’ span of gondolas along the wall of our example store, we would order two wall units, one 3’ long and the other 4’ long, and combine them to make a 7’ length of gondola shelving.

Constructing the 12’ aisle run is slightly trickier. Obviously aisle units are going to be used, but do we purchase three 4’ sections or four 3’ sections in order to make the 12’ run? A good rule of thumb in this situation is to use the fewest number of units possible to make the length of shelving you need, as it’s ultimately easier on your budget. If we decide to use three 4’ sections, we not only save ourselves the cost of a fourth unit, but we’ll also save money when we’re buying the accessories that attach to the units.

One last thing needs to be considered when buying the actual gondola units, and that’s figuring out how many starters and add-ons are required to construct the run of shelving in question. So what’s a “starter” and what's an “add-on?” A starter is either a wall or an aisle unit that “starts” a run of shelving and consists of the base shelf (or shelves, in the case of an aisle unit) and two steel uprights that frame the backing. Starters are also structurally sound enough to stand on their own, however they also cost more due to the extra metal used to make the two uprights. This extra cost led to the creation of the add-on. An add-on is either a wall or an aisle unit that “adds-on” to a starter unit to create the desired length for your run of shelving. Unlike a starter, an add-on only has one upright. In order to remain standing, an add-on is attached to a starter and “borrows” one of its uprights in order to maintain its structural integrity (a diagram of this can be found here. Since there’s less metal involved, add-ons cost significantly less than starters, which contributes to the excellent value that gondola systems are known for.

When creating a run of gondola shelving you will only use one starter per row, which means our 12’ run of aisle gondolas will be made up of one 4’ starter and two 4’ add-ons. In the case of our 7’ length of wall units, you might assume that a judgment call needs to be made on our part as to whether the 3’ or 4’ unit will be used as the starter. After everything is said and done, however, neither unit has a cost or structural advantage over the other, so either configuration will work equally well.

So, now that we know the basics of selecting our gondolas, which units would we purchase in order to make our layout come to life? For the 7’ long run of shelving against the wall we would order one 4’ wall unit starter and one 3’ wall unit add-on (or vice versa!), and for the 12’ long aisle we would order one 4’ aisle unit starter and two 4’ aisle unit add-ons. Now that we’ve worked out how to select the units required for our project, we need to figure out what our units will look like and what we’ll attach to them in order to merchandise our products successfully.

Most standard Gondola units come powder coated in an off-white color with a painted backing made of pegboard. Any deviation from this configuration can potentially lead to both an extra cost as well as a longer lead-time, therefore your budget and your build-out timeframe must be taken into consideration when making decisions about the customization of your units. That being said, gondola units can be constructed in a several different “set-ups.” Gondolas come in a limited number of colors, and a listing of these “standard” and “non-standard” colors can be found here. Its important to remember that proper color selection may be the key factor in what separates your store from the stores of your competitors.

Along with the pegboard that I mentioned before, gondolas are commonly backed with a painted piece of hardboard, a laminated piece of hardboard, or with slatwall. The pegboard and painted

a fourth unit, but we’ll also save money when we’re buying the accessories that attach to the units.

One last thing needs to be considered when buying the actual gondola units, and that’s figuring out how many starters and add-ons are required to construct the run of shelving in question. So what’s a “starter” and what's an “add-on?” A starter is either a wall or an aisle unit that “starts” a run of shelving and consists of the base shelf (or shelves, in the case of an aisle unit) and two steel uprights that frame the backing. Starters are also structurally sound enough to stand on their own, however they also cost more due to the extra metal used to make the two uprights. This extra cost led to the creation of the add-on. An add-on is either a wall or an aisle unit that “adds-on” to a starter unit to create the desired length for your run of shelving. Unlike a starter, an add-on only has one upright. In order to remain standing, an add-on is attached to a starter and “borrows” one of its uprights in order to maintain its structural integrity (a diagram of this can be found here. Since there’s less metal involved, add-ons cost significantly less than starters, which contributes to the excellent value that gondola systems are known for.

When creating a run of gondola shelving you will only use one starter per row, which means our 12’ run of aisle gondolas will be made up of one 4’ starter and two 4’ add-ons. In the case of our 7’ length of wall units, you might assume that a judgment call needs to be made on our part as to whether the 3’ or 4’ unit will be used as the starter. After everything is said and done, however, neither unit has a cost or structural advantage over the other, so either configuration will work equally well.

So, now that we know the basics of selecting our gondolas, which units would we purchase in order to make our layout come to life? For the 7’ long run of shelving against the wall we would order one 4’ wall unit starter and one 3’ wall unit add-on (or vice versa!), and for the 12’ long aisle we would order one 4’ aisle unit starter and two 4’ aisle unit add-ons. Now that we’ve worked out how to select the units required for our project, we need to figure out what our units will look like and what we’ll attach to them in order to merchandise our products successfully.

Most standard Gondola units come powder coated in an off-white color with a painted backing made of pegboard. Any deviation from this configuration can potentially lead to both an extra cost as well as a longer lead-time, therefore your budget and your build-out timeframe must be taken into consideration when making decisions about the customization of your units. That being said, gondola units can be constructed in a several different “set-ups.” Gondolas come in a limited number of colors, and a listing of these “standard” and “non-standard” colors can be found here. Its important to remember that proper color selection may be the key factor in what separates your store from the stores of your competitors.

Along with the pegboard that I mentioned before, gondolas are commonly backed with a painted piece of hardboard, a laminated piece of hardboard, or with slatwall. The pegboard and painted

be found here. Since there’s less metal involved, add-ons cost significantly less than starters, which contributes to the excellent value that gondola systems are known for.

When creating a run of gondola shelving you will only use one starter per row, which means our 12’ run of aisle gondolas will be made up of one 4’ starter and two 4’ add-ons. In the case of our 7’ length of wall units, you might assume that a judgment call needs to be made on our part as to whether the 3’ or 4’ unit will be used as the starter. After everything is said and done, however, neither unit has a cost or structural advantage over the other, so either configuration will work equally well.

So, now that we know the basics of selecting our gondolas, which units would we purchase in order to make our layout come to life? For the 7’ long run of shelving against the wall we would order one 4’ wall unit starter and one 3’ wall unit add-on (or vice versa!), and for the 12’ long aisle we would order one 4’ aisle unit starter and two 4’ aisle unit add-ons. Now that we’ve worked out how to select the units required for our project, we need to figure out what our units will look like and what we’ll attach to them in order to merchandise our products successfully.

Most standard Gondola units come powder coated in an off-white color with a painted backing made of pegboard. Any deviation from this configuration can potentially lead to both an extra cost as well as a longer lead-time, therefore your budget and your build-out timeframe must be taken into consideration when making decisions about the customization of your units. That being said, gondola units can be constructed in a several different “set-ups.” Gondolas come in a limited number of colors, and a listing of these “standard” and “non-standard” colors can be found here. Its important to remember that proper color selection may be the key factor in what separates your store from the stores of your competitors.

Along with the pegboard that I mentioned before, gondolas are commonly backed with a painted piece of hardboard, a laminated piece of hardboard, or with slatwall. The pegboard and painted

lect the units required for our project, we need to figure out what our units will look like and what we’ll attach to them in order to merchandise our products successfully.

Most standard Gondola units come powder coated in an off-white color with a painted backing made of pegboard. Any deviation from this configuration can potentially lead to both an extra cost as well as a longer lead-time, therefore your budget and your build-out timeframe must be taken into consideration when making decisions about the customization of your units. That being said, gondola units can be constructed in a several different “set-ups.” Gondolas come in a limited number of colors, and a listing of these “standard” and “non-standard” colors can be found here. Its important to remember that proper color selection may be the key factor in what separates your store from the stores of your competitors.

Along with the pegboard that I mentioned before, gondolas are commonly backed with a painted piece of hardboard, a laminated piece of hardboard, or with slatwall. The pegboard and painted backs are available in the same standard and non-standard colors as the metal parts of a unit, and the slatwall and laminated backings are available in a wide array of low and high-pressure laminates. When picking a backing material, you need to consider both function and look. For example, though a painted or laminated backing may have a “cleaner” appearance, a pegboard or slatwall back will allow you many more options when it comes to merchandising your units.

Finally, you need to consider how you will display your products. Gondola shelves, which come in 3’ and 4’ lengths and a variety of depths, are the most common attachment used on a gondola unit. Standard shelves can be attached to the unit horizontally and at a 15 or 30-degree angle. When attached horizontally, these shelves can hold up to 600 lbs. which makes them more than durable enough to display nearly any item. Many merchants will also stagger the depth of their shelves to provide a clearer view of the merchandise. For example, the base shelf might be 18” deep followed by the shelves above at 16”, 14” and 12” deep. If you have selected a pegboard or slatwall back for your units, you can also display items using any standard pegboard hardware or slatwall accessories. Knowing your inventory and the needs of your customers are the two most important factors when it comes to display accessory selection, therefore we suggest that you create a merchandising layout similar to the floor plan layout you made when figuring our where to position your gondolas in your store. This method of planning ahead will save you money and keep your merchandise from collecting dust on your shelves!

So ends our look at steel gondola units. I hope you have found this series of articles both helpful and informative. Until next time, take care and happy retailing!

© 2006 Adam Jones

This article can be reproduced freely so long as author credit, copy and hyperlinks remain unchanged.