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Federal Sign, with a long history and an increasingly diverse toolbox of Products and services, is poised to continue its dominance in retail signage.

By Will Pollock

Federal Sign's well-recognized project for Hard Rock Cafe exemplifies the excitement of retail signage today.

Although spoken language in some ways reflects inherent barriers batten people along cultural and geographic lines, the language of signs speaks in one universal tongue. From oversized highway billboards to the colorful, barbershop neon, today's signs are designed to catch attention and stir emotion.

Now more than ever, retail signage has begun to reflect as-yet unattainable results. While transcendent of its original wayfinding purpose, retail signage is a reflection of the store it presides over. A recent Shopping Center World survey supports such a theory, supports such a theory, with 70% of respondents agreeing that signage is part of the store's overall design plan; 30% pointed to signage as among a store's primary design features. (Please see full synopsis of survey results)

Oceanside, Calif.-based Federal Sign, a division of Oak Brook, III.-based Federal Signal Corp., finds itself at the forefront of this new era in signage. The company has amassed major presence in gaming facilities, theme parks and entertainment venues - with 23 sales offices and three manufacturing facilities around the country. Federal Sign's beginnings were much more simple: Its near 100-year experience in sign fabrication, design and maintenance began in 1901 with a small group of individuals who had a vision for retail.

Electricity, in signs and in sales pitches

Early in the century , a bulb appeared above the heads of a group of Chicago utility workers. Their bright idea was to use retail sign illumination as an avenue for expanding electricity revenue.

Kevin Stotmeister, Federal Sign's president, says the workers tried to impress upon shop owners that illuminating a flat, painted gold-leaf store sign would change the face of their shops for the better.

"They believed they could convince store owners that having incandescent bulbs around their signage would have a two-fold effect on their business", he says. "First, the illumination would provide security for their properties at night, as well as give them a means to identify their business to the general public. Very quickly, these workers determined that specializing in the sign business probably made more sense than staying with the utility".

During government energy conservation edicts during World Wars I and II, Federal Sign (then known as Federal Electric Co.) was forced to limit its sign business to leasing and maintenance for a short period. The company's other products, such as sirens, fuses, vacuum cleaners and washing machines, were unaffected by wartime restrictions on energy.

The emergence of neon lighting after World War II, says Stotmeister, was a major technology advancement in the industry and provided the company with another area in which to become proficient. In the 1920s, the company established an early affiliation with Claude Neon Lights - a company founded by French scientist Georges Claude, one of the inventors of gaseous tube illumination.

"Over the years, Federal moved pretty quickly into neon, which was emerging at that time", he says, adding that patents - such as the original rights Federal Sign held for neon production - had also begun to take place. "And in the United States, Federal was one of the first companies working with neon and offering those types of applications to clients".

According to Garth Ruchin, Federal Sign's director of marketing and a 30-year industry veteran, the company's foray into other businesses laid the foundation for its worldwide parent company, Federal Signal Corp. (For a detailed breakdown of Federal Signal Corp.'s business divisions, please see "Business Breakdown")

"During World War II we manufactured signaling devices, both flashing and audio," he says, "That business evolved into the biggest part of our business. And our parent, Federal Signal Corp., was an outgrowth of those initiatives".