red tent blues

Thursday, July 16, 2009

I had my first official craft market last week and it has taken me this long to talk about it because it was SUCH a bummer. Well the actual craft sale was a bummer; the company was not. It was held in a little neighbourhood unknown to me really, which is strange because I've lived in the city for so long and in many different neighbourhoods.

It didn't help that there was torential rain for the first part of the market. No that didn't help. But I managed to snag a nice red tent from a vendor through work so that was helpful. It was ginormous and we managed to squeeze about 3 other vendors under the tent with us. The other problem was there was construction right in front of the market along with a sign telling people to use the other side of the street. Not good. To top it off there was a festival going on down the street, which we were told would be HUGE driver to our market, but really it was quite the opposite because were about 2 blocks too far east of the festival to make a difference.

And maybe it just wasn't the right market for my stuff. I sold one thing and it was to my friend that I used to work with (thank god she bought something!!) BUT I have to say that the actual DAY was quite fun and a good experience (lemonade out of lemons right??).

First off M stayed with me at the sale. I thought it was funny that he wanted to stay at a girly market, but he was so helpful and admitted to having fun during the day. Also my sister K was there from the beginning and then my other sister S showed up and stayed the whole day. They were all so supportive and the marketing gene that we all got when we were born came out in full force because from the beginning they were throwing around tons of ideas on how to bring more people to the market and to my booth. I love them all so much for that.

Anyway I paid for two more market days which kind of sucks, but maybe it'll be better next time. Maybe I'll look into adding more colour to my craft stash because this time around I focused on LOTS of yellow and grey (my favourites!) and perhaps people are into a bit more colour. Who knows.

So enough blabbing and complaining! I posted some pics below from the day:

Getting ready with K


The construction (and the nice "parking spot" that M scored after he talked "construction" with the workers...)

The goods


K showing off the goods

Two of my sales people ;)

My sister S showing her crafty pipes

My very happy customer V

2 comments:

  1. Oh, I've SO been there!! I bet we've all been there. :-)

    I did a craft show last year where we were certain we'd have tons of visitors because of a huge event going on a couple of blocks away. Turns out, the people going to the event wanted nothing to do with us. They were either dragging their children to the kids' parade and didn't have time to stop, or they had been drinking since 10 a.m. and weren't really into our wares.

    Each craft show is its own special experience, so don't let it get you down. Glad you met some great people!

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  2. Oh, I'm sorry to hear the sale was a bummer. Like Karyn said, I've totally been there, too, and I haven't done a sale like that in close to two years because I learned that I always end up disappointed. That being said, I've signed on to set up at a fair next weekend, and I'm approaching it with the idea that what I don't sell, I'll put in my etsy shop and sell to the shops that carry my designs. I'm looking at the sale as a day to hang out with friends and meet new people - I've learned not to set my hopes to high when it comes to the business end of things. I hope you have a wonderful weekend to make up for it!

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