Well, guys today was the first full day of the consignment expo. For those of you who follow me on Etsy.com you know I have been talking about this for weeks now. I was excited about the Ring Around The Rosy Consignment Expo. I did so well last fall. But things change as they so often do in the craft show world. One week is up and the other is down.
Last fall it was in Anderson, IN in a prime real estate location. Right on the main strip of the city. Also it was right before the Christmas Season and I was the only Hair Accessory person there. I cleaned up!!! I thought I would do just as well if not better this time. I thought people would expect me to be there. I thought I would have a good location being that I was a returning vendor.(That is custom at craft shows. If you return year after year, you get better spots)
I didn't take into account that they moved the location back to Chesterfield. We lost alot of general public traffic. I thought it would be OK because it had been held there in previous years. But what I didn't realize was that the hard core consignment people were going there. Those people don't want to spend money on hair bows and hats and flowers. The general public will. That was who we had come at the armory in Anderson.
Point 2 that I had no idea to even ask but I will know for future events to ask and everyone who ever does an event should ask. How many other vendors will be there selling my stuff? This is a small show. There are 3 other people selling my exact same items making it a total of 4 hair bow vendors!!! 4 Hair Bow Vendors!!!! I paid $40 for a teeny, tiny booth that I have to crawl under to get to and freeze my butt off for 10 hours a day and there are 3 other people selling my stuff. These other people aren't even local!!!!! I am at least a local girl!!!! I am aggravated to say the least. Very, very aggravated.
I am hoping this is not a preview of the rest of the weekend. I will say I have made booth rent and then some. I have also made some good contacts and I am getting my name out there. It's all about getting your name out there. Handing out lots of business cards and talking myself up. That's what you gotta do!!! I am hoping that Friday and Saturday go much better and some peeps from Anderson come on in to Chesterfield.
Some woman actually said today that my Hair Bows were too highly priced for her. I lowered my prices at this show because it was a consignment show and I knew I would have trouble selling them at the price they should sell at. I sell them for anywhere from $1-$5 higher depending on the item so as you can tell, I lowered my prices considerably for this show and what I am contending with for my customer base here. But I still have 2 days to go and I am not giving up yet. I will update ya all tomorrow night!!!
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