**Short answer:** a painted wall can help a storefront get found, remembered, and recommended, in ways a plain sign usually cannot. In October 2026, the City of White Plains and ArtsWestchester unveiled a new mural in the downtown area as part of Mural Week, a statewide celebration of public art that forms part of the CHARM initiative. For a New York business owner, the takeaway is practical. A mural is a long-lived, visible investment in one place. It works best when it is designed for the people who walk past, placed on a wall that can hold it, and painted by an artist whose style suits the business.

Most business owners regard a wall as a surface to be leased, rented, or simply left alone, and they rarely consider what that surface communicates to the people who pass it every day. Municipalities across New York are increasingly treating those same surfaces as public space to fill with art. For a small business, that changes the math. The wall in front of a shop is one of the few marketing assets that does not need a new budget every month once the work is finished.

## Key takeaways

- A mural on a visible wall functions as durable brand identity, and it persists without a recurring advertising budget once the commission has been completed and the paint has cured.
- The White Plains mural, unveiled on October 15, 2026, was one of more than forty new murals that debuted statewide for Mural Week under the CHARM initiative.
- Community participation shaped the White Plains project, including a Community Paint Day that allowed residents to paint a section of the work alongside the artist.
- Velora Media does not publish a price for murals, because each wall is scoped through a consultation that takes into account the wall, the studio, and the scale of the work.
- A mural serves a business best when it reflects both the business and the neighborhood it serves, since a generic design seldom earns the sustained attention that a well-matched one can attract.

## What happened in White Plains

On October 15, 2026, the City of White Plains and ArtsWestchester unveiled a new mural at 70 Church Street, in the downtown area, as part of Mural Week. The artist, Victor Saint-Hilaire, works under the professional name VASH. The city describes the project as one of many that brought new public art to communities across New York during that statewide celebration. The building holds the city's Departments of Building and Planning, and the design includes an architect holding plans, which suits that location.

The mural took roughly two weeks to complete, and the city reports that the process drew attention from the public as it progressed. Residents stopped to converse with the artist, offered encouragement, and learned about his practice while the work took shape. An early Community Paint Day allowed dozens of neighbors to paint a section of the mural with him, which turned one commission into a project the neighborhood helped make.

The project forms part of CHARM, an acronym for Cultivating Havens for the Arts through Regional Murals. The Governor's office launched the initiative, and the New York State Council on the Arts administers it across the state. According to the state, more than forty new murals debuted across New York for Mural Week, and the work in White Plains, Port Chester, and Yonkers counts among the examples it names.

## Why a mural functions as a long-term asset

A sign tells people what a business sells. A mural tells them what the place feels like. It keeps doing that without anyone revising the message, renewing a contract, or approving a new layout each season, which matters to an owner already juggling payroll, inventory, and a full calendar. A painted wall can also become a landmark that people use when giving directions and remember for years. That helps most when customers arrive from the sidewalk, not from a search result.

Repeated exposure is central to the effect that a mural produces over time. People tend to prefer things they have encountered before, a tendency that psychologists often describe as the mere exposure effect, and a mural that remains in view for years gives a neighborhood countless small opportunities to become familiar with a brand. The effect builds slowly and is hard to tie to any single sale. It does not depend on a recurring media budget, and it continues for as long as the business remains open and the wall remains intact and well maintained.

## Which walls and businesses suit a mural

Not every wall deserves a commission. A good studio will say so in the first conversation. Before a business commits to a design, it helps to work through four questions in order. Each answer narrows the field, and together they reduce the chance of paying for a mural that looks wrong from the sidewalk, that fades within a few seasons, or that speaks to the wrong customers.

- **Is the wall visible from the street or from the place where customers wait?** A wall concealed by parked vehicles, a loading dock, or a row of mature trees contributes very little to a business's visibility, regardless of its size.
- **Can the wall sustain the work?** The condition of the surface, its height above the sidewalk, and the access available to the studio determine what can be painted and how long the result will endure in weather.
- **Does the design suit the business?** A hand-lettered sign painter and a graffiti artist produce markedly different work, and the match between the studio and the business matters far more than the dimensions of the wall.
- **Who will see the work?** A restaurant, a gym, a salon, a clinic, and a school each attract a different audience, and each audience responds to a different image, palette, and level of formality.

Velora's murals page lists common settings, including offices, restaurants, gyms, retail storefronts, salons, schools, clinics, auto shops, and building lobbies. Each setting calls for its own approach to scale, color, and message. The page's photographs show kinds of spaces, not finished commissions, so no single photo stands in for a promise.

## What Velora offers for murals

Velora Media works with partner mural studios across the New York region and throughout the state, and we match each wall to the studio whose style fits it. A graffiti piece therefore goes to graffiti artists, and a hand-lettered menu goes to a sign painter. The business works with one team at Velora from the first call through the final walk-through, so there is one contact to hold to account.

Most projects take place in New York City and on Long Island, where the density of storefronts, offices, and public walls gives partner studios a steady flow of work and gives a business a large local audience to reach. The partner studios also accept commissions on walls across New York State and along the East Coast, which means that a business outside the core area may still be able to commission a mural, provided that the wall and the logistics suit the studio. If your location is not listed, ask, because we will tell you promptly whether a studio can reach your wall.

Velora does not publish a price for murals. Each wall differs in its dimensions, its surface, its exposure to weather and traffic, and its setting, and the size, the design, and the studio together determine the cost. A consultation is therefore the first step in any commission, and it is the stage at which a business learns what its own wall will cost. We examine the wall, the business, and the audience before any painting begins, and you can [request a mural consultation](https://veloramedia.cloud/murals) to start that conversation.

No one can promise a specific increase in foot traffic or sales from a mural, because those outcomes depend on the location, the offer, the staff who greet customers, the pricing, and the rest of the marketing a business undertakes over the same period. A mural supports that work, alongside the listing, the reviews, and the website. It doesn't replace any of them.

## Frequently asked questions

### Do murals cost less than signs?

Costs vary widely with the wall, its dimensions, the complexity of the design, and the studio involved, so Velora does not publish a fixed price. A consultation produces a scope tailored to your specific wall and your specific budget.

### How long does a mural last?

Durability depends on the surface, the quality of the paint, the exposure to weather and sunlight, and the care the wall receives over the years. Ask the studio to explain the expected life of your particular wall during the consultation, and ask what maintenance it recommends.

### Do I need a permit to paint a mural?

Rules differ by city and by property type. Some municipalities operate dedicated mural permit programs, such as the one in Greensboro, North Carolina, so check with your local office before any work begins.

### Can a mural help a business that is not on a busy street?

It can make the business easier to recognize and remember, which matters in any location. Whether it changes foot traffic depends on the location and on the rest of the business's marketing.

### How should I choose a design?

Begin with the business's story, its customers, and the neighborhood it serves, and then consider what those people already see when they walk past. A studio should be able to show how it will fit the design to the wall and to the audience before any painting begins, and it should be willing to explain its reasoning in plain terms that an owner can evaluate.

### Where does Velora work?

Most projects take place in New York City and on Long Island. Partner studios also accept walls across New York State and along the East Coast. Ask about your area during the consultation.

## Related reading

For a comparison of how small businesses allocate money toward visibility, see [are local services ads worth it](/blog/are-local-services-ads-worth-it-what-ai-wont-decide). For how a storefront appears in local search results, see [why you search business name city google local pack psychology](/blog/why-you-search-business-name-city-google-local-pack-psychology). For how a business's website and listings support its visible brand, see [what it takes to build an award-winning business website](/blog/what-it-takes-to-build-an-award-winning-business-website).

## Velora Media landing pages, by industry

Each site below carries the same six pages: an overview, the services built for that industry, a shop with published prices, the engine showing how the pieces connect, results, and the questions owners in that industry ask first.

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## Sources

- City of White Plains, "New Mural Unveiled in Downtown White Plains," news release dated October 15, 2026, posted October 16, 2026, describing the mural at 70 Church Street with ArtsWestchester and the statewide CHARM initiative. [cityofwhiteplains.com](https://www.cityofwhiteplains.com/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=2239)
- City of Greensboro, North Carolina, "Neighborhood Arts: Street Art Permit Program." [greensboro-nc.gov](https://www.greensboro-nc.gov/departments/creative-greensboro/creative-greensboro-partners/street-mural-permit-program)
- Velora Media, "Commercial Murals and Graffiti Walls in New York," murals page, accessed October 23, 2026. [veloramedia.cloud](https://veloramedia.cloud/murals)