My First Table at a Christmas Market – Part IV

The day after

(Here’s the link to Part III)

We were at the venue about an hour before opening. This gave us a prime parking spot. Since we did not have breakfast at home, we enjoyed a hearty one at a coffee shop next door. Just before 9 AM the first exhibitors started arriving. The atrium had a ginormous Christmas tree in it. A wonderful backdrop for a Christmas market.

After having brought all boxes in, we met our table neighbours. All very nice and pleasant people. We all had to be ready for business before 10 AM.

Since this was my first appearance with my goods at a craft market, I had no idea what to expect. I was also never at The Woodwards Atrium in Vancouver during a craft fair.

We had a good mix of vendors from artsy to crafty. All in all, I was a bit disappointed about the foot traffic. The venue has a drug store and a grocery store on either side. But this did not really generate any visitors because most people accessed the stores from the street side, shopped and left again. However, there was a constant flow of people browsing through the market but very few bought something. I also think that 10 AM is too early to start and 4 PM too early to close.

Beloved and I sat around for the most part. The biggest attraction was Francis, the typewriter. One man wanted to buy it, one woman asked me if it was from my high school years… A most darling young lady even wrote a Christmas greeting for somebody on a piece of paper and bought a card to go with it. That was just a wonderful idea. Next time I will bring properly sized pieces of paper for people to type messages on. But other than that, we did sell a few cards. With the table fee and parking, we broke even.

This was the view from behind our table

I file this market under learning experience. The table fee was very reasonable, there was not much to lose. And since I am selling paper products, I can just sell them with the next order. But it gave me an idea how a craft fair works. It also shows you what people are looking for. For example, next time I must display all Christmas cards in one spot. I think, despite the signage, people were a bit confused. Products need to be found in a split second. I also learned that products are priced with taxes included.

If I ever give it another try it has to be at a different venue. It will have to be a Christmas market were people flock to because it’s in a neighbourhood with a Christmas market tradition.

To celebrate the day we had dinner at the Vancouver Christmas market. Thank you Klaus for being there!!!

The end, 2017