Abstract: There is disclosed herein apparatus and methods relating to a rapid setup for a retail display of merchandise that includes a tray for holding merchandise for display and a collapsible/expandable base attached to the tray. The tray and base are attached to one another so that the merchandise can be loaded into the tray with the base collapsed, and then the loaded tray and collapsed base are shipped to the retailer. The retailer merely needs to expand the base to set up the retail display with the merchandise ready for display in the tray.