How To Make A Display For A Doll Grocery Store

The inside of our dolly supermarket is nearly done.  We’ve decorated the walls and floor, put in a checkout counter, and made a couple of sales bins and a freezer.

However, the bins and freezer aren’t enough to hold my entire collection of Shopkins and Mini Brands.  I could really use another shelf or two along the back wall.

So I’m going to create a large display with shelves for holding even more doll-sized groceries!

Supplies needed:

1. White foam board.
2. Glue (Hot glue, a glue stick, and/or Tacky Glue).
3. Scrapbook or contact paper.
4. X-Acto Knife.
5. Scraps of cardboard or doll packaging.

Building the walls and base:

• Start by cutting out foam board for the back wall and sides of your display.

• Glue the sidewalls to back.  Make sure the cut edge of the back wall is against the sidewall.

• Cover the inside of the walls with scrapbook or contact paper.  Mine is papered with a grey, diamond-printed scrapbook paper.

• Cut two 2″ by 8″ sections of foam board.  We will use these to create the bottom shelf plus an area for a sign.

• Cover the foam board with paper, then glue the pieces to the bottom of the display.  The first should span across the front (flat side facing out), and the second should lay on top of the first (flat side facing up).

In the end, it should look like the display has a small bench.

Adding The Shelves And Covering The Outer Walls:

• Cut three 1 1/2″ by 8″ strips of foam board.

• Cover the pieces with paper then glue them into the display to create shelves.  My shelves are spaced roughly 2 1/2″ apart.

The inside of our display is done (and looking pretty good I might add).  Now we need to cover the outside with paper.  Let’s test out some different options and see which pattern looks best.

This white wood-printed paper isn’t bad; however, our store has a lot of neutral textures already.  I think we ought to introduce some color to keep things from looking bland.

This blue wood-grained paper is pretty.  Is it bold enough, though?  Part of me likes it, but the other part would like to see something with a bit more pop.  Let’s see what else is in my paper stash.

Ooo, pink wood-printed paper!  I like!  Let’s use this one.

• Once you’ve found perfect paper, use it to cover the outside walls.  It took a sheet and a half of 12X12 scrapbook paper to cover my display completely.

• Glue 1 cm wide strips of cardstock to the front of each shelf to make ledges.

Since I didn’t have any pink cardstock on hand, I made my own by gluing two pieces of regular scrapbook paper together.  It’s not as sturdy as real cardstock but works in a pinch.

• For a finishing touch, I decorated the top of my display with a leather-colored, star-studded sticker.

I know it’s not pink, but I imagine my store is a small-town supermarket somewhere in Texas.  Because of that, I’d like for it to have a little country flair, which is why I chose this particular sticker.

Making the sign:

• Cut and glue two 2 1/4″ by 7″ pieces of cardboard together (you can also use leftover toy packaging).

• Paint the cardboard with black chalkboard paint to make a sign you can write on.

I like using chalkboard paint because, if I ever get tired of what it says, I can erase it and write something new.

• Use thin strips of scrapbook paper to clean up the sign’s edges.

On second thought, I don’t like this paper–the light and dark wood is too contrasting.  I think I’d rather paint the edges a plain brown instead.

Perfect!  Now we can draw something cute on our sign and attach it to the display.

Ah! Our grocery store display looks fantastic!  And it will look even better once we fill it with our Mini Brands!

Yes, those tiny bottles of mayonnaise will help make our display’s shelves look nice and full (well, of Hellmann’s at least?).

As you can see, both the Shopkins Mini Packs and 5 Surprise Mini Brands fit nicely on the shelves.  There’s even room left over for more!

At this point, I’d say the inside of our doll grocery store is done.  Between the display, freezer, and bins, we have more than enough space to store our Shopkins and Mini Brands (and maybe even a few handmade groceries at some point?).

Well, friends, that’s it for today’s tutorial.  I hope you enjoyed seeing how to make this simple display for your doll supermarket.

Feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section, and don’t forget to check back next week for the grand finale of our doll grocery store.  It’s time for us to finish this project so we can start a new one!