Drive down 28th Street and try to name the stores you pass. Hard, right? Most of the buildings sit way back behind big parking lots, and the shops tuck in behind each other. The sign out by the road is doing all the work.
That sign is usually a pylon. Tall, simple, and easy to ignore until a center doesn’t have one.
What Pylon Signs Are
A pylon sign is a tall sign on one or two steel poles, with panels stacked down the face. The center name usually rides at the top. Tenant panels fill in below. The whole sign stands on its own near the road, close to the entrance drive.
People mix pylons up with monument signs. A monument sits low, maybe six or eight feet off the ground. A pylon goes up high so a driver can read it from a distance. Height is the whole point.
How Pylon Signs Help Retail Tenants
Most shoppers don’t pick a store ahead of time. They’re running errands, they see a name, and they pull in. A pylon panel puts a small tenant in front of that driver. Without one, the tenant is hoping people find the place by accident.
A few things a pylon does well:
- Drivers see the name from the road, before the turn
- A tenant in the back corner gets the same visibility as the front row
- Lit panels keep working after dark
- A new business looks established with a spot on the sign
Landlords like pylons too. A clean, full pylon makes a center look busy, and that helps when there’s an empty unit to fill.
Styles of Pylon Signs
Not every center needs the same build. The common ones:
- Single pole: one steel post with a narrower panel stack. Fits a small center with a handful of tenants.
- Double pole: two posts holding a wide face. Common at bigger strip centers with a lot of names.
- Cabinet style: lit boxes where each tenant panel slides or bolts out.
- Masonry base: a pole or cabinet sitting on brick or stone that matches the buildings behind it.
- Digital pylon: an LED message section, usually at the bottom, for rotating specials or announcements.
Most centers land on a double pole cabinet. Smaller properties often do fine with a single pole, and a newer center that wants a finished look may add the masonry base.
Get Your Name Seen From the Road
We design, build, and install pylon signs and tenant panels for retail centers around Grand Rapids. Send us your lease requirements or a photo of your lot and we’ll tell you what makes sense. Reach out to Grand Rapids Sign Company and we’ll get a quote started.
