Saturday, August 27, 2011

August Market Days...



Saturday Set up
I recently started selling at the Boerne Texas, Market Days with another Etsy seller, Katie, from Bling is my Thing / The Orange Poppy. I have wanted to do this type of thing for a long time and finally connected with the right person to do it with. Katie has been selling in this manner at shows and Markets for several years, so she knows the ropes pretty well and had built up a nice display booth. I had none of these items, so it was nice not to have to start from scratch and buy all my own equipment just to get started.

Saturday set up
First let me start by saying this was one seriously HOT weekend! We did have a lot of fun and learned a lot. Getting set up was a bit chaotic, but we did have the tent and tables set up the night before. We set up things with the tables towards the interior on Saturday to see how that worked with this market.

Sunday set up
One must note that the temperature was over 100 degrees each day, so from a logical stand point you'd think people would appreciate shopping inside the tent, out of the sun, but alas... this is not how it worked out! We did do OK on Saturday, which had a reasonable traffic flow, but I think the excessive heat, combined with school starting just a week after this market, it wasn't a booming business.

On Sunday we decided to change things up and see if that improved our business... Sundays are traditionally a bit slower and not usually the higher dollar day of the weekend. Moving all of our displays to face out made a BIG difference and we did more business on Sunday than Saturday! People stopped and looked and were willing to walk around all three sides to look at items...in the BLAZING sun! For whatever reason, people REALLY don't like walking into single tent spaces.. They will go into larger ones, but not a single.. WACKY! I'm sure we have some bugs to work out of our set up and such, but I think we are on our way!
Sunday set up right side

Emily
My Daughter Emily comes along with me to help with everything and does very well! She is awesome in engaging people, greets everyone who comes near the booth, before I can even open my mouth and does tons of work with all the set up and tear down.. all this in over 100 degree weather all weekend! The only relief we found was the lady selling Hawaiian Shaved Ice right next to the bathrooms... Brilliant! We we're drinking gallons of water, so frequent trips to the public facilities were made, and then we made a stop at the Hawaiian Ice  shop! Kept us form melting completely!

Sunday set up left side
We will be back in Boerne each month through the end of the year, and if all goes well, we'll probably continue at this market each month next year. If you are local in the San Antonio area, stop by and visit us!

I'll soon be opening my own website! I'll still have my Etsy shops, but I decided it was time to branch out and  have a little place to call my own. I'll be having both items from my jewelry shop, Principessa Jewels and my Artisan Lampwork Bead shop, Principessa Glass on one website. I'll let you all know when it's live! It'll be www.principessajewels.com (right now that link forwards to my Etsy shop, but is active). Thanks for stopping by!

5 comments:

ashley said...

Your blog is beautiful!

Unknown said...

Thanks Ashley! I checked out your blog! Great concept.. wish there was more of that around where I was at that stage!

DVArtist said...

Looks like a great show. I will be in Texas most of Sept.
Come by my blog and enter my giveaway
Nicole/Beadwright

Anonymous said...

Oh wow! You did awesome! I've yet to do a craft event and I really need to! I need to get brave! I'm just clueless as to which one to pick. I've thought about something in San Antonio...it's far away but we have family to stay with. Not sure if I want my first event to be several days long though... And I can't believe you had to endure the heat like that! Goodness! You're a trooper!

Unknown said...

Thanks DondaLee! You should do a show! I'm sure there are some really good ones up there. I checked into a few that are around the Austin area that I have heard are really good.. visit them and see if you like the mix of vendors.. That's what we did. Some are more flea market like, some are very artisan.. You have to find the mix that fits you!

It's a lot of work but lots of fun! Finding someone to pair up with makes it more affordable and gives you a broader appeal. Also makes it so you can go to the restroom without having to ask someone to watch your booth!