George and I did most of our booth set up the night before knowing that once the market started we would both be too busy to concentrate on the JamBusters! booth. It was a good thing as a couple other vendors joined us on Friday night to get some pre-market set up taken care of. We don’t normally have this option available to us so we end up unloading as fast as we can so I can get things set up as George hauls product into the venue from the car.
The market this time around was a little slower in traffic but the vendors all seemed to enjoy themselves. We could hear a lot of laughing and conversation coming up from the downstairs which must have meant everything was going along great for them. George checked on vendors a few times during the day and I did near the end of the event. All of them expressed how grateful they were to have such a great place to vend their products indoors. Also, all but one said they would be back next month.
One of the things I have always enjoyed about any of our vending events is the socializing. There have been some out-of-town locations where the layout has not been very inviting for getting to know other vendors, but we usually make the effort to at least work with the vendors beside us or near us. We’ve made some great contacts as a result and find that sometimes vendors can learn from each other from sharing their experiences.
There was one young vendor on site Saturday who told me she was just starting to get out and work on presenting herself and her products to the community. She reminded me of myself when I first tried vending a few years ago. It made me think that possibly we have tips and hints that we can share with a new wave of vendors. I know George is always offering suggestions and sharing some of our discoveries with others.
You never know what we all may learn from doing this.
However, I still look at any of the vending events we attend as a social event. I love meeting new people, seeing their expressions when they try one of our products for the first time, and hearing their feedback. I also love it when a past customer comes back with news on how they used one of our products. There are times where I’m so interested in sharing with a customer that I sometimes forget I’m also there to sell JamBusters! product…lol! George usually keeps me on track with that part but I see him visiting with other vendors as well. He may say he’s doing some “research and development” but I know he’s having as much fun as I am.
Next month we have two, possibly three indoor events scheduled. The first one is on April Fool’s Day. It’s in the giant indoor flea market in Oliver, BC. We have attended this location several times over the past couple of years as customers – often once a month we will make the 90-minute trip. For a change, we will be setting up a table next to another Princeton vendor (Diana of Grandma’s Attic) to see if JamBusters! will be successful over there. If it sells well we may find ourselves with a new site to factor into our 2017 schedule.