2nd craft show evaulation

Here’s my summary of the 2nd craft show I went to. I sell board, pizza peel, and animal banks. Etsy shop is foursonswoodworking. This was a fund raiser for the local Catholic grade school. I’m pretty disappointed about the lack of sales. I think I haven’t found the right upscale show to attend. These people weren’t going to spend $50+ on a board. 8×10 is really cramped with 2 8’ tables I rented from them. I wish promoters would take some time and verify that rentals would fit ‘nicely’ in a booth.

There were 100ish vendors in 2 main rooms and classrooms. There were a lot of knit goods – scarfs, hair nets, doggy sweaters… Couple across the aisle were sell glass flowers glued up glass candle holders, plates, candy dishes onto one another to make a design. They then epoxied a sheet metal piece that would fit around a piece of re-bar. You put these in your garden/yard. There was a vendor with laser/cnc cut crosses, names, cutesy sayings…., another with bowls and pens he turned on a lathe. Handful of commercial vendors. I was the only one with pizza peels and boards.

Like the one in the spring the traffic was light. The $4.00 admission fee probably didn’t help. My stuff was probably over price for this show. I had a buddy that came down to sit and talk with for a couple of hours and he agreed.
The woman across the aisle wasn’t very friendly. The first thing she said when they walked in during setup was “you’re across your space”. My wife was able to smile and say nice things to her as the evening progresses. The 8×10 booths were too small for the 2 8’ tables I rented from them. I was in a corner booth against 2 exterior walls with a door in the middle of the booth. I questioned the organizers at length about the legality of blocking the door. Fortunately, the fire marshal didn’t stop by. I was in the main room rather than a class room which was good.

The animal banks were the best sellers at $28-36. I sold one larger board, and a trivet. I thought the pizza peels at $44 were a fair price but didn’t sell any, no other boards sold. Got tired of hearing “those are good paddle boards” for the long narrow boards. Lots of compliments but not a large number of sales.

Facts:
• Total miles driven: 10
• Booth cost: $60
• Food cost: $0
• Travel cost: $0
• Total sales: $235 Netted: $174
• # of people we met during the event from the producer: 0
• Visits in our booth by a promoter’s representative: 0
• Saturday alarm: none
• transactions: 6
• # woodworking vendors: Pen and bowl guy, Cnc/laser cut sign guy, outdoor lettering on old cedar fence board. No real competition.
• Returning next year? ???? probably not
• Items sold: 7
• Cutting Boards: 1
• Trivet: 1
• Animal banks: 5