Every small business is about making risks. I’ve talked before about the risk we took going from just selling locally on craigslist, to having a booth at the first Vintage Market Days (VMD) of St Louis and how well that risk paid off. My husband and I talked earlier this year about possibly doing a show outside of St Louis, to try to broaden our clientele reach. So, when we heard that Northwest Arkansas was opening its first VMD this spring, we thought that getting a booth there might be a good way to expand! So we applied, got in and got working right after the Spring VMD here locally.
Hoping for the best we rented a big truck and started loading everything that we had ready to go: about 7 dressers, a couple desks and several smaller pieces. It only takes 4.5 hours from St Louis to Fayetteville so we left on Thursday around noon and got to setting up our booth that night.
I was thrilled to see we got lucky enough to be one of the first booths in the arena, as you walk in! Once all the bigger pieces were in place, we left smaller pieces, staging, and pricing for Friday morning.
Friday morning’s view before we made things look nice:
And here was the booth, facing the opposite direction, after we got everything set up:
Something I learned from Chanda (STL VMD Owner) and that I’ve tried to follow in subsequent shows, is to create a little island that the flow of traffic can move around easily, yet also draws them in. Even though I had to stack furniture (as I usually do), I didn’t want the island to become too heavy, visually, so I kept dressers along the perimeter.
Here was the other side of the little “island”:
While, it is obvious that I primarily paint furniture, it would be a mistake if I didn’t bring smaller items to stage the furniture. The smaller vintage items really show how my style comes together with the pieces I paint and also gives clients an idea of how to use them in their home.
This little chest, which would be perfect for a bathroom, sold.
Bruno was sure this little red table wouldn’t sell. But red always sells. 🙂
This was the only dresser that sold on Friday. It was seriously one of my favorites. Solid walnut, dated pre-1890, hand-built, MMS milk painted body in Ironstone (with the bonding agent) and over-sized turquoise knobs. She was a beauty. This was the only real photo I got of her too! 🙁
So, I was pretty pumped for the show to start, expecting similar turn-out and success as St Louis.
However, things did not sell like we expected. The smaller pieces were selling, but by Saturday afternoon we were starting to worry that we would have to rent another big truck to haul all the big pieces home. Fortunately, we heard about a local store, The Vintage Crush, that might buy some of our pieces. So, we contacted them, sent pictures, and Sunday morning delivered 2 desks and a vanity to their store in Bentonville.
We also spoke with another vendor at VMD, Red Hill Gallery & Homewares, that is Fayetteville’s only Annie Sloan Chalk Paint distributer. They loved my work and offered to consign a few pieces if they didn’t sell by Sunday. Seriously the nicest pair of gals and one of them is the artist, (Cari Humphries) who painted one of Marian’s (Miss Mustard Seed) cow paintings, Hyacinth! I wish I had taken pictures of their store… it was to die for. I loved everything about it, especially the owners, Cari and Shannon.
They LOVED the Union Jack and since it was the only piece that wouldn’t fit in the tow-trailer we had to rent after the show, we delivered it to their store and we actually heard this week that it sold!
Here is a little rustic table/desk that I didn’t get a chance to properly stage or photograph, but sold also.
It was fun to break out of my usual colors and do something orange, with a completely new planked top we built and stained.
After all the expenses of traveling down there and coming back, we just about broke even. It was disappointing, for sure. While we still aren’t 100% sure as to WHY the furniture didn’t fly out the door like it did in St Louis, and it probably was a combination of several reasons, we did learn some good lessons for future shows.
1. If traveling any more than 1 hour away, never go to a first time show.
That way, we can evaluate number turn-out, advertising and promoting, and speak with other vendors on their experience. We also will still be very wary of first time shows ANYwhere, for the same reasons.
2. Plan for worst case scenario AHEAD of time. I’m glad we thought creatively before it was too late, but if we had more time, I would have possibly even listed items on Craigslist ahead of time, contacted other stores, etc.
3. Buy a trailer if traveling out of town. The rental fees were killer.
4. Bring more decorative, smaller pieces and things that can be easily loaded back if there is extra. Smaller pieces, hand-made items (like wreaths), sell much easier.
This might be helpful to someone out there, but mostly I’m writing this down for me. So I don’t forget!
What about you? Have you ever made a business risk that didn’t pay off? What did you learn?
This might be helpful to someone out there, but mostly I’m writing this down for me. So I don’t forget!
What about you? Have you ever made a business risk that didn’t pay off? What did you learn?
I think you’re items were beautiful. I think the problem was you were the first booth, people wanted to see what else was there. Then they forgot about you or had already purchased somethjng elsewhere. I looked at your items and thought they were great, but I wasn’t in the market for a larger piece. Wish you all the best, hope you’ll give Arkansas a chance again.
Hi Betsy! Thanks for the feedback! It is possible that location was a problem… but I was the first or one of the first booths at both STL VMDs and was incredibly successful at both. I think several people were just like you and not in the market for a larger piece. Thank you for the well wishes and I hope you can come to the next VMD here in St Louis in September!
Lots of great tips, Rachel! Your pieces were fabulous and so was your staging. I’m betting it was the whole “new show” that kept you from selling out. VMD is big with the blogging world, but there were probably many shoppers who had never heard of VMD so they didn’t know what to expect. They probably weren’t expecting big furniture items and didn’t have vehicles with them that would allow them to take larger pieces home.
Your booth and your furniture look amazing! Don’t let this discourage you. Your pieces are stunning and I would have thought they would have flown out the door. All beautiful! I def. think for the bigger pieces people need to have a place for it and like the look. I always scratch my head as to what sells and what doesn’t. When I did the antique show it was more smaller pieces. x
Thanks. I especially like the white coffee table with the natural top.
Rachel, I typed up a long comment on this post last week, but see it never made it through! I just wanted to say thank you for sharing your experience, specifically with VMD NWA. I was thinking of heading up there for a show next year, so I appreciate learning from your experience. My bet is that the painted furniture trend hasn’t quite taken off there yet, but it another year or two there will be a bigger customer base. You paint wonderful pieces and I’m glad you were able to find other alternatives in the area for your pieces that didn’t sell. This is a hard business with lots of up and downs, but you’re great at it!