Wednesday, October 29, 2008

New items, New Shows and more economic thoughts...


So of course after the rough weather at last weekend's outdoor craft show, I came down with a cold. The good thing is that since I had sick time to use & I've able to take some photos of many of the new items I didn't sell this past weekend, while getting them ready for my Etsy shop.


I used a piece of cobalt, milk glass and a weathered piece of frosty clear/white glass to make the piece. The sea glass sit on a 18" sterling silver chain.


My next show is next weekend, on Nov 8th in Point Pleasant, NJ at a yoga studio. The owners of OM Baby was very kind to allow us use of her facility and almost every vendor is a part of the EtsyNJ street team. It's an indoor show and we are promoting it as a group, and in the media. It's an indoor show. No tents, no winds and hopefully I can sit there sipping coffee and selling everything on my table... : )


A few vendors in other states have noticed that there are re-sellers at some of the shop recently. I think this has a lot to do with the weak economy. People may be finding it tough to find a holiday job and what better way than to be your own boss. No boss to yell at, you get to set your hours and if you pick the right event, you stand to make a lot of money!
With all the work involved with prepping for a show, I'd still rather be doing a craft show than working at my JOB.... any day of the week!
May all your shows exceed expectations.
til next time...
R

Monday, October 27, 2008

Recap of the weekend shows, new listings, new items


This past weekend, I had high hopes for the two shows on my events schedule. For very different reasons, I came away from both events very disappointed.


The Saturday show was the Handmade Faire in Medford, NJ. The show was probably promoted better than any show I've ever attended. There were many members of the fast-growing EtsyNJ street team at the show and I had very high expectations for this event. Unfortunately, during the week of the event, it seemed like Mother Nature was going to play a part. As the event creeped closer, it became very apparent that she would play a large role, much larger than anyone wanted her to play.


The show was held at a small airport and with half the vendors inside a large tent and the other half outside in 10x10 spots. Nearly all of the outside vendors had tents, which were needed as rain began to fall prior to the show's start.


As the show began, it showed a lot of promise. The first 100 customers received "Goodie Bags" and those 100 bags were gone very quickly. As more and more people came, Mother Nature decided to deal her hand... a soaking rain with a moderate wind.


The people continued to come out and support this new show. I heard comments about the unique items and vendors. Actually, the customers I spoke with were raving about the show. Customers were there to buy gifts for friends and for themselves and the outside vendors seemed to be doing well.


My tent often had several people looking at items and as I had a brief minute to look, several other tents looked to be quite busy as well. And Mother Nature continued to increase her onslaught with brief moments of drenching rains and constant wind that had vendors making tent adjustments.


I watched my hubby shifting weights in the tent trying to combat the steady wind and strong gusts. Eventually he had to start taking down the walls in hopes of keeping the tent upright. One whole side wall had to be removed, as did 3/4 of the other side wall and more than half the back of the tent walls. My hubby spent most of the show hanging onto the tent leg that was getting the full brunt of a wind that just seemed to get stronger as the minutes went by.


The large outdoor crowds were moving into the "big top-type" tent that housed nearly 50 vendors and those that did venture into my tent were beginning to show fear that the tent wouldn't hold together and quite frankly, I was concerned also.

Outside vendors began packing up when displays tore, tent brackets snapped and merchandise began getting wet.


I stuck it out for 3.5 hours and began to pack it in, when the reports indicated the winds would soon increase and the flood of customers turned into a trickle and mostly walked right by my shop. By the time I had finished packing everything into the truck, the remainder of the outside crew was also packing up.


In all, it wasn't a horrible day. But expectations were extremely high and the early part of the show indicated the sales would have been very good with a nice weather forecast.. With a Sunday show pending, it only made sense to pack up and protect my items from possible damages.... only this show also didn't pan out, but for many reasons different than the Handmade Faire.

A couple new items went into my shop today (see picture to my Etsy shop) and the above picture is an item that might be found in my shop at some point.


In my next entry, I'll discuss show #2.

til next time...


R