Outdoor LED Installation Provides Dynamic Visual Experience for New Hospitality Concept

Located in downtown Columbia, South Carolina, Market on Main is a new restaurant, artisan market, bar and outdoor venue all wrapped into one. Part of a downtown revitalization of Main Street, the new concept aims to connect with a range of demographics by offering something for everyone, whether it’s breakfast, gourmet food shopping, a quick snack, drinks or entertainment.

Co-founder Josh Willoughby said the idea behind Market on Main is to bring a premier city offering to a mid-level metro area. “We wanted Market on Main to be unlike anything else you could find in Columbia,” he said. “Our vision was to create an experience comparable to what could be found in a big market like New York City.”

This line of thinking helped guide Willoughby and Co-Founding Partner and Executive Chef Howard Stephens in designing Market on Main’s outdoor space. After seeing display technologies installed in outdoor rooftop venues of cities like Dallas and New York City, Willoughby became interested in the potential draw that an outdoor video wall could have in downtown Columbia.

Following a consultation process with Adam Dox, president of Advanced Video Group, which included a visit to the InfoComm tradeshow to evaluate visual technologies, the partners selected an outdoor LED video wall solution from Planar.

Creating a versatile outdoor venue

Market on Main’s outdoor venue—built after the indoor space was completed—includes an outdoor kitchen, shaded patio, self-serve beer wall with 18 taps, raised stage andnearly 24-foot-long, 8-foot-high Planar® VVR Series LED video wall with a 3.9mm pixel pitch (VVRO3.9) in a 12x7 configuration. Installed by Advanced Video Group, the video wall supports a range of events and diverse uses.

“We can show live sports of all kinds during the day or at night, whether it’s football, soccer, golf or horseracing,” Willoughby said. “We can also have concerts on the stage and live stream the performance on the video wall above.”

The venue and LED video wall can be reserved for private parties, such as weddings, and Willoughby plans on featuring the video wall for movie nights, karaoke, trivia or watch parties for big games. “It’s a stunning installation and gives us many different, creative options,” he said.

According to Adam Dox, the Planar VVR Series met all of his conditions for a successful, large-scale installation. “The Planar solution is built to withstand the elements and has high brightness to overcome direct sun and ambient light,” he said. “The video wall is also reliable, and because it’s a fixed device that’s constantly visible, it met our requirement of being aesthetically appealing. Upon seeing the video wall in their venue with content displayed on the screen, the client was blown away with the quality of the image. It’s a rare visual technology for the hospitality space.”