Cell Phone Display Cabinet

This cell phone display cabinet project was built for a mall phone shop in South Africa in 2012. The retailer was moving from wall shelving to a kiosk format and needed the handsets protected: glass on four sides, lockable access from the staff side, and a counter top that could take a till, a bag stack and a card terminal without looking cluttered.

The unit was assembled from four glass cabinet modules forming two L-shaped counters, roughly 9 linear metres in total, each with three glass shelves and a black stone top; two suspended lightbox signs hung above the service point; and four framed poster panels fixed to the counter ends. A continuous white LED strip runs under each counter and lights the floor without glare.

The design treats the cabinet as the product stage. Black stone tops and slim black frames give a neutral edge to the glass, while the white lacquer bases keep the volume light in a dark mall concourse. Shelves are set at 280 mm pitch for boxed handsets, and the glass is low-iron so the screens read without a green cast. The two L-shapes face each other across the service point, which lets one staff member serve from the middle while customers browse both sides.

Cabinet frames ship welded and powder-coated with glass packed separately; on site the crew levels each base, sets the L-shapes, fits the glass shelves and doors, and hangs the lightbox signs from the unit’s own frame rather than the mall ceiling. Lighting is split into two circuits — cabinet shelves and suspended signs — so the signage can run outside trading hours. Glass edges are polished and crated upright, and each stone top is packed with a protective board so the surface arrives unmarked.

Customization includes cabinet length and height, shelf pitch, frame colour, stone top selection, poster panel size and the number of suspended signs.