Logo Mats for Downtown Storefronts in Ozaukee County

The first thing every customer steps on in your shop is the mat. It’s also usually the last thing anyone thinks about.

Ozaukee County has a lot of downtowns built for walking: Cedarburg, Grafton, Port Washington, Thiensville. Those buildings are older, the entries are small, and a lot of the floors are original wood or tile. That combination makes the entrance mat matter more, not less. Here’s how to choose a logo mat for your older storefront in Wisconsin.

What’s different about an older storefront

Often there’s no vestibule. Customers step from the sidewalk straight onto your floor. The mat is the whole entrance system.

Old floors don’t forgive water or salt. Wood and tile show every wet footprint, and salt eats at wood finishes. (We wrote about what salt does to floors last month.)

Thresholds and steps. A mat that curls at a raised threshold is a trip hazard right where people are looking up at your displays instead of down at their feet.

Lake weather. Near the lake in Port Washington, a wet, windy day pushes rain and slush right up to the door.

A logo mat still has a job

A logo mat is usually bought as part of a branding effort but it should be chosen as matting first. Its first job is to catch dirt and water before they reach your floor. Looking good is the second job.

That’s why we size the mat to the door and the traffic first, then put your logo on it. Not the other way around. A mat sized to fit the artwork may look right, but it also underperforms.

How to size it

Start with the width of the door. The mat should cover the full opening so no one steps around it.

For length, run this test after the next wet day: walk in your own front door and look down. Follow the wet footprints. Where they stop being visible is how far your matting needs to reach. If your mat ends before that point, the rest of that water is going onto your floor.

In a small shop, one well-sized mat usually does the job. In a busier one, a scraper-style mat right inside the door plus the logo mat behind it catches much more before it reaches the sales floor.

Inside or outside?

Your logo mat should almost always go inside, where customers can see it and where it stays dry enough to look good throughout the week.

Outside, use a scraper mat to knock off grit and slush before anyone reaches the door. One caution for downtown shops: the sidewalk in front of your door often belongs to the city, so check before putting anything out there.

Rent or buy?

You can easily buy a logo mat, but cleaning it regularly to keep it looking fresh is the problem. Vacuuming pulls off what’s on top and leaves what’s down in the fibers, so over time the mat flattens, fades, and stops catching anything.

With a logo mat rental from Packerland Rent-a-Mat, your logo mat gets picked up on your service day and swapped for a freshly cleaned version. It looks great week after week, (and more importantly) it keeps working like it should.

Order before the holidays

Logo mats are made to order, so they take a few weeks to process and deliver. If you want yours down for holiday shopping and before the worst of the salt, order as soon as you can. We’ll do our best to get it to you as quickly as we can.

Logo Mats for Offices Across Wisconsin

Logo mats aren’t just for retail spaces. They are great for professional offices and clinics, too. Traffic during the holidays may be lighter, but carpeted lobbies show every stain, and your mat is still the first thing a client sees.

We’ll come measure it

We’ll come look at your entrance, measure it, follow the footprints with you, and talk about what your logo mat could look like (or say). They are truly custom, so putting your logo on it is just the starting point. Some customers use logo mats to direct traffic, give instructions, or add a decorative touch to their lobby, break room, front entrance, and more.

Call 1-800-472-9339 for a free estimate.

— Katelyn Schultz, General Manager, Packerland Rent-A-Mat