Displays2Go - In Business Since 1974

The company was incorporated in 1974 by George Patton, who spent off-hours pursuing the freelance design of display products for several local Rhode Island companies. As a designer and producer of custom point-of-purchase displays, George Patton Associates immediately began to enjoy success serving such notable New England clients as A.T. Cross, Speidel Watches, Fram Auto Parts, Spalding Sporting Goods and Parker Brothers. At that time, the company designed, engineered, and produced a vast array of displays in materials including wood, vacuum formed plastics, injection molded components, acrylic, foams and more.

During this era (prior to the evolution of PLASTICRAFTERS and DISPLAYS2GO), George Patton Associates operated as a traditional display house. The majority of time and effort went into no-cost prototypes “for show” with the hope that the “big” order would come in before changing tastes, contacts or budgets could spell the discontinuation of the project. Although successful many times, this roller coaster of sales hopes prompted the introduction of a line of proprietary, pre-made products in 1984 under the trade name of PLASTICRAFTERS. With assistance from his son, Tom Patton, George realized that a steady, more predictable streamline of business could be achieved. The new emphasis became stock products, always available from inventory. In-house fabrication of acrylic literature dispensers, acrylic sign frames, acrylic poster frames and various promotional displays commenced. A hand-drawn and hand-addressed single sheet flyer was mailed out to some 300 New England area companies as a trial balloon. It worked. Little by little, the phone started to ring, with customers placing orders and asking for quick shipments. The black & white flyers got more sophisticated with each printing and the customer base grew from a local handful to thousands across the country.

During this renaissance period, "stock" displays were produced alongside the "custom", personalized display orders. Quality and integrity were the watchwords to gain customer satisfaction and repeat business. Strong growth prompted the design of a much larger, color catalog and extension of bulk-mail marketing efforts into many industries. As a response to customer demand, the primary line of acrylic based displays was also expanded to include new products manufactured from wood and metal. As the evolution from a small, local custom POP display manufacturer to a regional, and subsequently national, direct-marketer took place, George's son Chris Patton came in to assist in 1992. At the end of 1992, George sold the company to his two sons with a vote of confidence to let them progress to the next level.

With the internet coming into play, and in an effort to structure the company more understandably, DISPLAYS2GO was established as a trade name for the stock line of products, emphasizing the company’s ability to provide stock displays available for same day shipping. As of 2008, our direct marketing divisions include the ownership of many B2B ecommerce websites associated with marketing products, POP Displays, Store Fixtures, Hotel & Restaurant Products, Institutional and Facility supplies, Trade Show Displays and more. The company presently operates more than 20 websites which can be viewed at DisplayShops.com, and plans to host more than 50 sites by 2009.

From an idea that started in a one room studio to today’s lineup of 190 employees, 4,000+ product models, and 210,000 square feet of office, manufacturing and warehousing space…the two divisions remain strong.

The company remains focused on being the premier supplier of POP advertising displays to all Business-to-Business clients.