The small but mighty A-frame sign

Years ago, while at an auto repair shop, I asked the mechanic/owner if the county allowed the “Oil Change Special” A-frame out by the street. I was pretty sure that the sign code limited businesses to a single on-premise sign. “If they said I had to get rid of one sign or the other,” he said, “I’d probably take off the sign on the building. You wouldn’t believe how much business that little sign brings in.”

An effective A-frame sign is an advertising bargain, and Sam Pitino, Letterluxe Signs, Medford, Massachusetts, knows that well. He designs and letters a lot of them. An A-frame sign is often more visible than a sign on a storefront, and on a busy sidewalk they can really bring customers in the door.

“An A-frame sign,” says Sam, “has such strong advertising potential—when it doesn’t look like one of those off-the-shelf, plastic versions. I don’t understand how people choose to make one of those be the first thing people see to represent their business.”