Newfangled awnings offer more than shelter
    from Business First November 2, 1987

An old man cranked open the weathered blue-and-white canvas awning over the fron of his West Side produce market as the first hints of sunshine flickered over the morning horizon.

As the awning faithfully unfolded over the facade of the market, the old man thought about the many years which had passed since the first time he opened this awning to protect the front of his market from the sense of old-world tradition his awning lent to the architecture of the building.

Indeed, an awning's primary function traditionally has been to protect the front of a building from the wrath of mother nature. Adornment always has been a by-product.

Not anymoew. Times have changed and businesspeople have begun to realize that awnings can do a lot more for a store than keep snow off the display window.

Merchants of all types are discovering that an awning on the front of the building - especially those bright backlit ones - can serve as a billboard, image maker, customer catcher or even the signature for a business in need of visibility, identity and traffic.

Just as Ron Alsheimer, president of Video Factory Inc, a videocassette outlet. He was the one responsible for bringing the first backlit awning - a revolutionary design with comines the visibility of a sign with the protection of an awning - to Buffalo. His yellow "We've go the movies" awnings are a familiar sight to people throughout Western New York.

"Everybody knows us as the place with the yellow awning," Alsheimer said.

The main reason Alsheimer put the backlit awnings on the facades of his buildings is because they provide cost-effective advertising. Compared to a full-page newspaper advertisement, he said, a backlit awning lasts longer and colsts less.

Alsheimer said a backlit awning also adds distinction to his business and dresses up the front of his building.

"It covers a lot of sins," he said.

Alsheimer first saw a backlit awning in Canada and was, to say the least, impressed. He approached Marty Kohler of Kohler Awnings Inc. with the idea of building a backlit awning in Buffalo. The rest is history.

Now, backlit awnings are the hottest thing to hit the awning business in quite a while, said Craig Kohler, Marty's brother. And their most important attribute is that they provide the 24-hour advertising exposure of a sign while offering the protection of the older, conventional canvas awnings.

"They're not too much removed from what the older canvase awnings were," he said.

Maybe so, but for Neal Wilcox, president of Visual Creations, canvas awnings are old hat. Backlit awnings are the happening thing. Visual Creations, a division of Wilcox Brothers Signs, deals exclusively in backlit awnings and was created expressly because of the potential Wilcox sees for the backlit-awning business.

"It's an awning and it's a sign," he said. "There is a lot of potential of illuminated awnings. Every business needs a sign. Every business needs an awning."

Wilcox said backlit awnings are subtle in nature, highly visible, offer protection from the elements and provide downlighting - which offers a sense of security for customers.

"What I like about awnings is that they blend in well with the architecture of a building or become the architecture of a building," Wilcox said. "They are aesthetically pleasing to a building."

Wilcox is quite enthusiastic about the future of backlit awnings. He is planning to devote 20 percent of his business to cross-country, mail-order marketing of the products.

Backlit awnings are similar in construction to conventional canvas awnings. Both are supported by frames constructed from steel tubing, usually with a polyurethane finish on the steel. Fabrication is pretty much the same, too.

However, the materials often are different. Backlits use vinyls with names like Panaflex and Lumaflex, which allow for sign-like illumination and filter ultraviolet light while maintaining some translucency. Wilcox said vinyls also allow the more versatility for graphics.

Backlit awnings are illuminated by a variety of light sources, includeing fluorescent, mercury vapor, high-output cold weather ballast and neon lights. Wilcox said a sign company has an advantage in these early developmental days of the backlit awning because they are more familiar with different types of lighting, as well as how to deal with shadows and hotspots on the awning.

Awning companies, on the other hand, are more adept at constructing framework and installing the canvas (or vinyl). Wilcox said awning companies tend to view graphics as a secondary feature, while sign companies treat graphics as a more critical feature.

"Graphics are very important to us," he said.

Despite the diferences between the two different types of businesses competing in the same market, local awning dealers agree competition here is healthy but not cutthroat.

Peter Bukowski, president of Buffalo Tent and Awning Inc., said he thinks there is enough business to keep the major awning companies in the area happy. And competition is usually friendly, with different companies often bidding on the same job.

"(We) still have to be innovative, though," he said.

Backlit awnings originated in Vancouver, British Columbia, about 10 years ago, Wilcox said, and they have gained popularity in this area over the past four years.

The average life span of a backlit awning is 10 years. Canvas awnings typically last longer - up to 20 years.

"It's like a car," Wilcox said. "If you maintain it, you're going to get more life out of it."

Visual Designs gives a five-year guarantee against soiling or fading. Wilcox and other awning dealers in the area said it's difficult to establish a price range for backlit or canvas awnings. Prices vary depending on shape, style, type of material used, size, and where the awning is being installed.

However, backlits are considerably more expensive than conventional awnings, with prices generally starting at about $2,000 and up. Wilcox said he is currently negotiating a contract bid for a $250,000 job.

Peter Bukowski, president of Buffalo Tent and Awning, said backlit awnings are about 25 percent more expensive than conventional awnings, "depending on the graphics and where it's going."

So what is the future of the backlit awning business? Is this just a passing fashion to go the way of the sandwich boards and roll-up awnings? Or is the backlit awning here to stay?

"It's not really a fad," Marty Kohler said. What it is, in my opinion, is an extension of the canvas canopy which has been growing in popularity over the past five years, even before the backlits.

"With the actual potential for this, the surface hasn't even been scratched. You can change the look of a building, add lighting, add a sign - all in one shot. So it's a bargain."