Latest Craft Show

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

I said I would commment on my latest craft show which was this past weekend and here it is. It was not a success to put it in a nut shell. I did about $1000 worth of business which is less than half of what I usually do. This has always been a great show for me and it has been around for 27 years. Just to give you a sense of where the show has been going the last few years, just last year there were over 2oo crafters at the show, this year there wer 115. The crafters always like to judge the crowds by the 50/50 price amounts. Years past they were over $1000 prices and this year the top one was $250. I also do 2 other shows with the same amount of crafters and have been around for about the same amount of time. I learned a few weeks ago that they are no longer going to be in existance so I am out of luck for this year. Too late to get into any other shows. Getting back to this past show though the organisers have asked the crafters for a meeting and want to find out what our opinions on turning the show around are. They suggested bringing in outside venders that sell manufactured goods. They say this is the thing of the future. I disagree and do not want the show to go this way.They are open for suggestions so it will be interesting.

I have noticed over the past 5 years the craft shows have headed downward and are not drawing the crowds thus the crafteres are not renewing so the amount of crafters is off. This is on the East coast here in New Jersey. My question is this happening in other parts of the country and if so what do you think are the reasons?? Do you see a turn around in the future or should I look for a new hobby?? HA hA This is also one of the reasons I brought up the topic about selling your wares elswhere. So if you have any input on that please stop by that topic board and chime in. Thanks for reading. :)

[Woodbutcher68]

Some of the shows here are starting to become juried shows. I think that will help since they are keeping the Chinese "crafts" and the home party stuff out. I did my first juried show a cople of weeks ago and it was my best show ever. Other crafters were complaining at that one and at another show the same weekend about poor sales. I also think that the economy has alot to do with sales.If you look at how the retailers are marking things down it shows.
Hopefully I'll do good this weekend and everyone's sales will pick up.

[TIMBERTODD]

The show I did 2 weeks ago was comprised of local crafters. I spoke to several of them about the 2 large local craftshows. The overwhelming responce I got was they would rather do smaller shows like the one I was at that did not allow the import sellers. A coworker of mine went to one of those large local shows last weekend with his wife. He said the majority of the vendors were reselling boughten goods. I hate to think that buying and reselling is the wave of the future. That is why there are department stores.
TIMBERTODD

[Woodbutcher68]

We buy wood and resell it!
We just make it look better!

[wisconsinwoodch]

wisconsin wood chuck . I wont do a show if it says craft flee market. Here all the promoters are going to juired shows If you get caught selling buy sell products they make you remove them, some make the seller Leave and nextyear they wont let you show no matter what you have .i would rather do art shows, because the customers seem to spend more If they know It is hand made buy the crafter.Juired is the only way to go. Chuck

[Servcman]

Out of curiosity, as I've only done a few shows around the local area and really not sure what to expect from these shows I had the collapsible baskets marked at $30 for oak and $25 for oak/birchply or pine and still have all 15 of them. All I got out of them is the " their pretty but so expensive" are my prices too high or just live in the wrong area?
Dennis

[Woodbutcher68]

I don't know anybody who's ever sold one.

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

Dennis

I know around by me on the east coast they have played out. I still have a few but was lucky to sell about 5 last year for $30 all oak. Will not make any more for sure. Here is one I had for a longhttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v233/JTTHECLOCKMAN/CopyofCandyBowel.jpg time and sold it last year as well.Of course this is a large version but even this would not sell. There is always a buyer out there though so do not give up hope.

[Servcman]

I was wondering how much demograghics played into things. About 20 years ago this area was basicly rural farmland but due to the ready accesss to 3 major expressways and being located halfway between Cleveland and Akron it sprung up to $300,000 clusterhome developments. They are even trying to shut down the farm equipment salvage yard as the city grew up around it and people who have built their homes next to it are tired of looking at it, even though its been there a good 50 years longer then their homes. I just thought maybe because the area is a cross between old family farmers and "yuppies" that it probaly doesn't help in this area. I know I did better in the bigger city shows even though they were smaller and less advertised.
Dennis

[wisconsinwoodch]

wisconsin wood chuck. Here in wisconsin I think the run there coarse, there useto be a lot of crafters making them but now I see very few at shows, your price seams very resinable to me, I saw a lot higher prices around here, It could be the aera you are located in. Dont give up ,I had a pop truck that I hauld around for two year , It sold at the last show and the some one comes and orders one,you just nerver know. good luck dont give up just make oyher things to show with them they will sell. chuck

[pops-shop]

I have had good fortune at shows this year. Added 3 new ones and did very well at 2 of them. I have been fortunate and been the only scroller at the shows. Also, my pride and joy (the Quarter maps) have done very well and are my staple. As far as the collabsable baskets, I still have a few in inventory.

[GrayBeard Phil]

John:

I have tried several times to come up with a reply to your original post. I just cannot express in a logical reasoned manner what I want to post, so here goes a rambling thought stream.

I presume your luck over the last two years hasn't been driven by the 3 years of increasing fuel cost your customers have been having. Craft show items fall in the 'disposal income' budget bracket for many customers.

Also, does your area have problems with insurance rates for crafts shows going sky high? Local High School craft show (band boosters) got a BIG insurance bill. End of tents and open fields, only inside the school buildings from now on (where the school district has insurance coverage).

Do you find the craft show attendees seem to be having a 'generational' gap? By that I mean do the craft show customers seem to be more of a post 40 year old, or even of a post 50 year old age bracket? Twenty something customers being few and far between? My limited exposure to people of the younger age brackets shows a very strong anti-craft prejudge. Feel free to come up with your own reasons why.

Shopping Malls came into being as an extension of the Department Store; a single building where all your shopping could be combined. The improvement of the malls was there could be small specialty shops which have product lines that the big department stores didn't cater to. However, that concept has been replaced by 14 shoe stores, none with your size in stock.

So you seem to be saying that the traditional craft show may morph into a reaction to the super-malls and become more of a mid-eastern bazaar of merchandise; a farmer's market of dry goods. Craft made or imported goods the customer is there for the bargains.

As far as Street Art Fairs and so forth: could hand made, or craft made, become less important as the artistic style? Could artistic flair become much more important than if the item was laser cut or scroll saw machine cut by hand?

No, I don't think the traditional craft show will disappear. It will morph into something else. I cannot foretell the future. I can only pray that craft shows don't end up being relagated to thoes stupid carts in the middle of the malls.

Phil

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

Phil

As always you bring up a few good points and I will touch on some. You mention the age bracket. Well since I have been doing shows and to this day the age bracket starts at around early 40's to around 60's. The shows I do are either church run or school run. I have not done any of these mega shows because a boothe is at least $800 for a 10 X 10 and am afraid I will not succede and is for 4 days. Of course you can always go by the adage if the customers are willing to pay $8 to get in they are there to buy. But on that same thought your competition is greater, much greater. The crafters or venders in this case is around 500 to 600 as opposed to 150 to 200.

I have not done any street fairs because the ones I have gone to to observe seem to be a feel good atmosphere were people are there for the food and games. Not much buying yet there are not many crafters as there are venders selling store items.

You mention gas prices, I do not think that is a situation that plays too big into this.

You did hit on a reason or sort of that I think is happening. That being people want to buy from one place such as a mall or as today goes the computer. Another reason I feel the craft show has played out is because todays generation is into more modern designs and scroll work does not fit in as does the knitting and painting items. I try to mix my items up and add some new things when I can. Soetimes this helps. But I will give you an example I do many military items and fire dept. items and you would think they would have an impact but not so. Another thing that is very noticable here is the amount of craft shows or craft / flee markets has increased and there may be just too many. But with the closingg of some of the top shows in my area it will become interesting what will step up. As I said the show committee want to meet with the crafters to discuss some avenues we can explore and are pushing the store bought venders because they get their rent and they do not care where it comes from. This meeting will be in Jan some time and I will report back with the outcome.

In the mean time I hope things are going better throughout the country and everyone is making a killing. My season is over before it got started. Maybe next year. Good Luck All

[WoodmanPlus]

Hi all.

I am in North Mississippi. I am a member of Dixie Wood Scrollers,part of S.A.W.
We as a club have been doing shows for a while and we also see the downward slid at the shows. We did a large well advertised show last month. It was presented to us as a juried show,but when we got up there there were out of 60 plus venders,45 where not. the paper work said that if the items where not hand made, the vender would be asked to leave. We were encouraged to do this show by the County Arts Council, that is the reason that we agreed to do the show.
It cost $450.00 for a 10x10 spot.
Between 4 of use that participated we took in a total of $85.00. Two of us donated items for the drawings . With food and transportation and give aways, we will never do another large show.
We usually do a number of small two day shows to help the Fire Dpts. and local Churches and they have been declining in the past couple of years. Three of us that do shows are now putting our items in specialty shops on consignment. I am not happy about this but, I have to have a small profit from somewhere to ofset my cost as I am on S.S. and that is all. I totally enjoy both the scrolling and the turning because I can not sit still. I have been dealing with the public most of my life. I have been in Fire Service and Police Work ,and the Military, and I am NOT about to just sit down.
Two of our members have thier items in a local antigue shop. I have mine in a jewelry and a new art store, that has just opened in our area. He wants only hand made items,so I am anxious to see what transpires with that. Sorry about the book.
Chet

[pops-shop]

Damn, woodman, that's a tough one to swallow. I just did a show yesterday that netted me $2.00. However, it was an outside show with lousy weather.

[ndtroll]

Here is something I found that increased my sales at the last craft show... I don't think I have passed this on....
The way the "Big One" (largest local craft show) is laid out... there are groups of 5 boothes per section.... I have become friends with many of the other crafters.... one in particular from Wyoming.
we take one section of 5 booths... They use 1 1/2 and I use 3 1/2 booths (at $100.00 per 8x10).
Since I have opened up the display, more people walk in and look around. In the past I have had displays in the back and tables across the front..... I have enough room so mothers with strollers can walk through.
The other thing I did .... A lot of my work is 8x10 and 11x14 framed wildlife scenes, prairie scenes and other framed pictures in wood. I removed the glass from all of these.... it allows people to see the depth of the picture in the wood.... and touch and feel the wood.
It also makes the bins with the framed pictures much lighter to carry
I traded much of the glass to a local photographer for deer and elk antlers, (that I'm figuring out what to do with)

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

Dave

First let me say that sounds like a nice deal in your set up. It is so much more fun when you have the room to operate and really show off you stuff.Glad things worked out for you. I am guessing you did alright in sales??

One other thing it is funny in a way because you mention taking the glass off your projects. I was reading on a couple other forums people started putting glass and plastic on their portaits and framed things because there seems to be a craze where people are going around and taking pictures of boothes and copying the projects. Evidently the glare from glass and plastic disrupt the picture so you do not get a clear picture. Then sell the prints as their work. Today you can take a picture and turn it into a pattern very easily. There have been warnings going around about this and also about people asking alot of questions about your work. Just something to be aware of at these shows as if we do not have enough to worry about.

[pops-shop]

Dave

I will agree with the openess. I closed mine up once and folks got frustrated with not being able to see up close and to touch the wood. I keep mine in a "U" shape which lets folks come in and touch. I also try to get "end" spaces so I can open up the canopy sides to get more light in and also gives me another side for folks to look and feel.

Happy New Year to all.

[ndtroll]

Yes I did have a very good show.... we haven't had the problem with people taking pictures of things to reproduce them but I can see where it could become a problem .... the only pictures beig snapped were be me..... many of the items I had not photographed before so I figured at the show was a good time.... The pic's are still hiding in my camera
I also get an end (or aisle) spot for my booths....
In fact I've done this show, spring and summer for 3 years and the ladies that run the show always give me the same spot. I believe that helps as people don't have to hunt for you in all the booths. They know where I will be and they know I always add new items every show

Later

[pops-shop]

Dave
Excellent point about being in the same spot from year to year. We have also gone one step further by purchasing a colored top for our booth - purple (our town's color) - I know it's a bad color for wood stuff but is easily recogniseable.
Folks remember your spot and booth color and setup. Kinda makes a person feel good when the customer says "glad to see you're back".

later

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

I agree with trying to stay in the same spot because as you do these shows you develop a following and regular customers. I know I have a few especially one that does mainly her Christmas shopping from me and has sent my items around the world. My problem with these people though I have run out of ideas for them. One couple I think I have supplied the furnishings on all her walls and tables. I asked them a few times what else they would like to see and they would give me ideas but to put them to wood is not easy at times.

Oh well good to see you doing well at the shows this year. Hope next year brings even more sales.

[ndtroll]

I agree with the color statemant
I use a cranberry color on my displayers and tables. I also add a darker blue cloth on the cranberry to further accent it.
I will need to experiment on the best way to display the clocks I am working on