Different colors and patterns are highly suggestive to the human mind. When you are considering retail flooring options, or any commercial flooring installation, remember to think about what your choices will communicate to customers and visitors.

Bright colors can often evoke creativity and excitement, while darker colors give off an air of seriousness. Whites suggest cleanliness. So bright colors might fit a toy or games shop, while deeper shades are more appropriate for a law office, and whites suit a clinical setting. These are very broad examples, but they help to illustrate what colors and tones subconsciously suggest to us, and how they build our expectations, when we walk into new places.

It’s not just limited to colors, either. Have you ever noticed that when you enter a shop that sells crafts and handmade goods, the flooring is usually wood? This helps reinforce the idea that this is a homey, warm place. Many outdoors shops rely almost exclusively on wood flooring because it conveys the feeling of being in a more natural environment than if the floor were…say, cement.

For shops that want to go entirely green, recycled wood looks just as good and is just as strong as regular hardwood. Recycled carpet uses nylon fiber that is melted down from other carpets. The new nylon pellets are used to create new carpeting. This way you can proudly say your retail space is green, right down to the commercial flooring installation.

Patterns in carpet, tile, cement – these can all be used to guide the eye further into the store. Our brains like identifying patterns and then predicting how they’ll continue, so an interesting regular pattern can help us feel both reassured and more interested in a space. Don’t make things too busy, though. The eye can get overwhelmed, so keep things solid and predictable if you have a lot of small items on your shelves.

There is a wide range of exciting retail flooring options that can help induce customers into your space and then help them feel comfortable and engaged once they’re there.