Blog
October 25, 2026
Whose Shop Is It, Anyway? The Image Electricals Shop Front Makeover in Wanowrie, and the Counters That Followed
A big electricals showroom in Wanowrie, a front that looked like a small shop, and the owner’s own name smaller than his suppliers’. Here’s how we cleared it to one black wall, gave the name hero billing, hid the AC behind slits, and came back 18 months later for the counters.
Case study · Image Electricals, Wanowrie, Pune
Whose shop is it, anyway?
Image Electricals is a big electricals showroom in Wanowrie. It sells switches, wires, fans, water heaters and lights from more than a dozen top brands. But stand on the road outside its old front and ask yourself whose shop it is, and you'd have said Polycab, or Legrand, or Schneider. The shop's own name was the smallest thing up there.
This is the story of how we fixed that: first the whole front, in February 2025, and then, when the owner called us back in 2026, the counters at the entrance. Lots of before-and-after photos ahead.
The client
Image Electricals (owner Taher Sehrawala)
Where
Arihant Avenue, Divya Nagar, Wanowrie, Pune
The front
38 x 8 ft, 3D LED letters, lit brand boxes and badges
When
Front: Feb 2025. Counters: Aug 2026
The call
“I don’t want just a board”
When Taher Sehrawala, the owner, first called us, he was clear: "I don't want just a board. I want somebody to beautify my entire frontage and give everything a uniform look."
Wanowrie is a long way from our workshop in Shaniwar Peth, and the brief sounded simple, so I sent Sachin from our team to take photos first. They showed what Taher meant. There were far too many messages in far too many places, and nothing read as one.
Before
A big showroom with a small shop’s face
Inside, Image Electricals is spacious and well stocked. From the road, it looked like any small shop in Tapkir Galli, the lane in Pune's old city where little electrical shops sit shoulder to shoulder, every front plastered with brand names. Nothing told you this was a showroom of its size.
A name in three styles
IMAGE in bold red 3D letters, Electricals in thin black, Enterprise Pvt. Ltd. flat; the Marathi name and GST number in plain vinyl.
Suppliers louder than the shop
Polycab and Legrand panels jutting out at an angle, bigger than the shop’s own name.
A flex board on top
A Schneider Electric board above the name, half seen, half hidden.
The AC in full view
The AC’s outdoor unit sat right above the word IMAGE.
Geysers on the pillars
Sample geysers and water heaters hung on the pillars as displays.
Counters for other brands
Even the counters at the entrance carried a Kühl board and a Legrand board.
The first answer
“You need an architect, not me”
I told Taher his problem had two parts, and the sign came second. First the front needed redoing, with ACP cladding across the whole width for one uniform look. That's an architect's job, so I suggested he call one.
He wouldn't. He knew our work and insisted that I come and see the shop myself. He even offered to send a car to pick me up. At that point, saying no would have been rude. So I went to Wanowrie. That's Taher in the blue sweater, outside the old front.
“You’re not an architect, but the way you talk about my shop, I’m sure you’ll give me more value than one.” Taher, as I remember it.
The meeting
An hour of honest criticism
We sat in his office for almost an hour. I apologised in advance: since he'd given me a free hand, I was going to criticise his entire front, and it wasn't personal. Then I told him, in exactly these words, that it was a hot mess.
I didn't know where to look or what to read. Too many messages were shouting at once, with no common colour, size or font. The pillars were a mix of bare concrete, granite and hanging geysers. None of it said “classy showroom”.
We're not qualified architects. But we've worked on so many projects that we know what looks good and what doesn't: how to show a name, what size, what colours. That's what Taher was asking for.
Step one
A blank slate: one black wall, left to right
My first advice: everything on the front goes. In its place, one plain, level wall of ACP across all three openings, running down the pillars too. Taher chose black, his corporate colour with red. I wanted a blank slate, and he agreed.
He asked me to handle the cladding too and pay me for it. I politely refused. If I take money for something, I'm answerable for it, and cladding isn't our work. Instead I gave him the number of Manoj Shukla, an exterior contractor I trust. Taher hired him on the spot.
Manoj broke the old front, removed the old ACP and built one black wall: on the elevation above the shop, down the pillars, and as a short false ceiling with lights from the edge of the sign (which juts out about 4 ft over the platform) back to the shutter.
The brief
One shop, two identities
Then I asked Taher what he wanted on that blank wall. "Mitesh, Image Electricals has two identities," he said. One is the shop's name. The other is the brands: he's an authorised dealer for many of the big names, and customers come looking for them.
He'd even written the brands down for me on an estimate pad. That's his list, crossings-out and all.
Hero billing
The name first, then the brands
In my eyes, Image Electricals was the hero of the story, and also my paying client. So the name got hero billing: IMAGE ELECTRICALS in large 3D letters across the middle, with Taher's lightning-bolt logo, which he gave us and we refined.
The brands still mattered, so they went either side, in an orderly way. His eight main agencies sit in rectangular boxes on the left. Nine more go in smaller round badges on the right, under the shop's name in Marathi, in the same red and white.
From our proposal: the 456 x 96 inch front, brands left, name in the middle, Marathi name and badges right.
We don't offer design as a service. Here I made an exception: Taher wasn't going to work with anyone else, and after a few layouts and a few rounds back and forth, he liked this one straight away.
The idea he liked best
Let the AC breathe through the sign
The AC's outdoor unit had to stay. A showroom needs it, and an outdoor unit has to breathe and throw out hot air. But left in view, it would spoil everything.
So I asked Manoj to run the black ACP over it as well and cut vertical slits into the panel in front of it. The unit breathes through the slits, and the street never sees it. A second slit panel sits on the other side of the name, so the front stays symmetrical.
Illustration: front view and side section of the slits in the ACP. Not to scale.
“My trust in you is fully validated. No architect would have given me this idea.” Taher, as I remember it.
The pillars
Pictures of geysers, not geysers
The sample geysers and heaters hanging on the pillars had to go too. In their place: clean panels showing the actual products he sells, fans, heaters and exhaust fans, with each brand's logo on top.
We printed the panels. Taher bought the white clip-on frames locally, so he can change a print whenever a model changes.
How it’s made
Every material on one page
Every proposal we send has a materials page and a specifications page, so the client knows exactly what they're paying for. The name and logo are channel letters about 2.5 in deep, with aluminium sides and exterior-grade acrylic faces in white and red, and LEDs inside, so they glow from the front, not the sides.
Each brand logo sits on its own acrylic box, also 2.5 in deep, with LEDs inside and the logo UV-printed on top. The black ACP base was the client's, built by Manoj.
From our proposal: the materials and colours page.
From our proposal
The specifications page
Warm white was our recommendation in the proposal. The finished front glows a cooler white, which looks crisp against the black.
Letters and logo in 3D, glowing from the front; brand logos printed and fixed on top of their boxes.
Before a single cut
He saw it by day and by night first
As always, Taher got a day view and a night view of the new front, drawn on a photo of his own shop, before we cut anything.
From our proposal: the day and night views on a photo of the old front.
27 February 2025
The evening the lights came on
We made everything in our workshop and fitted it from bamboo scaffolding. The photos on the left are from the evening of 27 February 2025, the first time the front lit up. On the right, the finished front at night.
Installation evening
Lit for the first time, scaffolding still up.
Finished
The whole front glowing on the black wall.
Real photos, only light and colour corrected.
Up close
Boxes on the left, badges on the right
Crompton, Legrand, Polycab, Philips, Anchor by Panasonic, Schneider Electric, L&T Switchgear and Captain: eight lit boxes, two by four, on the left.
The right side
The Marathi name and nine badges
इमेज इलेक्ट्रिकल्स in red and white, and under it nine round badges, from Havells and Bajaj to Orient and Axelon, each lit from inside.
The lightning-bolt logo and IMAGE ELECTRICALS lit for the first time.
Before and after
Same shop, same road
Here's the old front from the road, and the new one. Now you know whose shop it is before you read a single brand.
Before
Seven kinds of board, the AC on show, the name the smallest thing there.
After
One black wall, the name in the middle, the brands in order either side.
The after photos of the finished front were shared on Google.
From the steps
Black from the sign to the floor
The black ACP runs down the pillars and along the side, so the front reads as one block from every angle, even from the steps.
Shop front: ₹1,64,318 + GST, February 2025, including fabrication, transport and installation of the letters, boxes and badges. The ACP cladding was Manoj's separate contract with Taher. For a front like this, see our 3D LED sign boards.
Eighteen months later
“The counters look horrible, Mitesh”
In 2026 Taher called again. "You know what, Mitesh, the counters also look horrible." The two counters at the entrance still carried one brand each, Kühl and Legrand. Whoever made those boards had used light, delicate material: the letters had broken, and they no longer shone.
The shop sits five or six steps above the road. Customers read those counters while they climb the stairs, so they deserved better.
The old board
Measured for the new one
125 inches wide, with broken letters. The left counter measured 115 inches. Both boards stand 43 inches tall.
The plan
Repeat the front, at eye level
When people reach the counter, they want to see what's on offer. So we repeated the front's look: nine brand boxes on the left counter, and the shop's logo with twelve round badges on the right. Both lit, like the front, and built like our backlit acrylic logo boards.
From our proposal: the left counter (115 x 43 in) and the right counter (125 x 43 in).
From our proposal: day and night views of both counters.
In our workshop
Cut, wired and tested before it leaves
Each logo box is cut, printed and wired on its own, then the whole board is tested on our floor. 276 LEDs on two 400 W power supplies light the left counter, and 248 LEDs the right one. More about our workshop.
Behind the logos
LED modules, one box at a time
Every box gets its own LEDs, so each logo glows evenly and none sits in a dark patch.
Watch
The counter boards, from workshop to shop
Our Short of the counter boards: cutting, wiring, testing and the finished counters. It loads only when you tap play.
13 August 2026
Both counters, lit
Installed on 13 August 2026. The counters now say what the front says, a few feet from the customer.
Left counter
Nine brand boxes, from Anchor to Atomberg.
Right counter
The Image Electricals logo and twelve brand badges.
Real photos, only light and colour corrected.
The third piece
The small print, done neatly
Every shop has to display a few details: its registered name in Marathi, its GST number, its address, the days it's open and its holiday. At Image Electricals they used to be vinyl stuck on the old board.
Now they're on a 2 x 4 ft black acrylic board on a side pillar, in the same red and white as everything else, not lit. (We've blurred the GST number here.)
From our proposal
Drawn on the pillar first
24 x 48 inches, placed above the product panels.
The specs
What we made for Image Electricals
Client
Image Electricals (Taher Sehrawala), Arihant Avenue, Wanowrie, Pune
Shop front
456 x 96 in (38 x 8 ft) on the client’s black ACP wall
Name and logo
Channel letters about 2.5 in deep: aluminium sides, exterior-grade white and red acrylic faces, LEDs inside
Brand boxes and badges
8 rectangular boxes left, 9 round badges right; acrylic boxes 2.5 in deep, LEDs inside, logos UV-printed on top
Marathi name
इमेज इलेक्ट्रिकल्स in red and white, above the badges
AC
Hidden behind vertical slits in the ACP (cladding by Manoj Shukla, the client’s contractor)
Pillars
Our product prints, in clip-on frames bought by the client
Counters
Left 115 x 43 in, 9 brand boxes, 276 LEDs; right 125 x 43 in, logo + 12 badges, 248 LEDs
Details board
24 x 48 in black acrylic: name in Marathi, address, GST number, timings; not lit
When
Front installed 27 February 2025; counters and details board 13 August 2026
What it cost
The prices, job by job
Both jobs were made, delivered and fitted by our team in Pune. The prices are what Taher paid at the time, plus 18% GST. A front like this is always quoted on its own sizes and site.
Shop front: letters, logo, 17 brand boxes and badges, fitted
₹1,64,318 + GST (Feb 2025)
Two lit counter boards + details board
about ₹1,08,000 + GST (Aug 2026)
Black ACP cladding, slits, false ceiling
Separate contract (Manoj Shukla, paid by the client)
Good to know
What to send us
A photo of your shop front from across the road, its width and height, your logo and the brands you want shown.
The proposal
Free, with layout, sizes, materials and day and night views drawn on a photo of your own shop.
Lead time
Fabricated signs typically take 1-15 days after you approve the proposal.
Installation
In Pune, quoted with the job; we fit from ladders or scaffolding as the site needs.
Shop front looking like a noticeboard? Send us a photo and we'll make a free proposal, the way we did for Taher.
Looking back
What made it work
Taher was profuse in his thanks, both times. Two jobs, and the whole entrance of his shop looks like one showroom now: the front from the road, the counters from the steps, even the small print on the pillar.
Fix the wall before the sign
A sign can only look as good as the wall behind it.
Give the name hero billing
The shop’s own name first; the brands support it, they don’t compete with it.
Hide what must stay
The AC stayed, behind slits. The geysers became pictures.
Repeat the look
Counters, pillars and the details board in the same black, red and white.
Next time you’re in Wanowrie
Look for the lightning bolt
Pass Arihant Avenue near Jambhulkar Chowk after dark and look for the red lightning bolt. Climb the steps and the counters will tell you the rest.
Every photo is on the Image Electricals job page, with more shops and showrooms in Our Work.
Related
Our work
The whole makeover, photo by photo
The Image Electricals job page: the front, the counters and the details board, with every photo.
See the job page →Our work
Another Wanowrie job
V3 Tyres: a showroom pylon sign with a lit tyre logo, a few minutes away.
See the job →Your turn
Does your shop front say whose shop it is?
Send us a photo on WhatsApp. We'll plan the name, the brands, the lights and the fixing, and draw it on your own shop by day and by night.
Looking for any specific product?
Drop us a line. Send us your query. And we’ll get back to you with solutions and answers.
Mitesh Sanghani
Mitesh lives, mostly for Saturdays.
But when forced to work, you’ll find him heading Orchid Digitals – a printing press in Pune.
If it’s an emergency, try looking for him in the hills behind his house. You’ll almost certainly find him… lazing under a tree, with a book in hand.
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