Brenda prepares some try-before-you-buy samples at the JamBusters! booth in the 'yellow room' at the Oliver Indoor Flea Market in Oliver, BC.
Our ongoing vending dates continue to fill the weekends. All through October we more or less settled down with all seven Saturday/Sunday dates in Oliver at the Indoor Flea Market there. We shifted stock and supplies from home to storage locations around our display in Oliver. It gave us a good chance to focus on what inventory we had and what we needed for the rest of the year.
Plus, being in the same spot each time we vended was a nice treat. Both George and I started to really look forward to the 130-kilometre trip from home to Oliver and it soon got easier and easier to do. We also started to form friendships with other vendors with space in the same part of the Oliver Indoor Flea Market building as us. And our customer base was growing.
In all, although October was still busy, it provided us an opportunity to more or less relax. George commented several times how much he appreciated not having to load and unload the car of all our vending material these days. When we vend in Oliver the inventory stays there and all we do is either add to it or remove items we no longer need on site. Very easy on both of us!
It was also during the month of October and into November when we decided to take stock of what was in Oliver and what was stored at home. I still had several canning days ahead of me so I used them to replenish stock and increase the inventory sitting at home. We currently have enough stock that if we have a date away from Oliver we can stock it from the home inventory.
The beginning of November was hectic for me as I had booked a Friday night event that ran along with a Saturday and Sunday vending weekend in Oliver. The Friday night event on November 10 was at a local restaurant. I had attended a similar event at the same venue in March of 2016 so I had an idea of how it would go. It turned out to be much better than I expected.
The entire three date weekend I had to do on my own as George had three other commitments on those dates. I wasn’t looking forward to it and at one point seriously considered skipping one or both Oliver dates but George more or less convinced me it would be good for me to go solo. Sales were off and I think it may have been partly because he wasn’t there to help out.
One thing I rarely think about is our jar count. We keep track of it but I couldn’t tell you with any accuracy how many jars we sold last week or yesterday if I had to. George records and tracks all of that data. He told me after I returned from the solo Sunday date in Oliver on November 12 that I had sold my 1,000th jar that day. I would never have imagined that.
For us to sell over 1,000 jars in just ten-and-a-half months of 2017 was amazing to me. However, this year has been very different to any previous year with JamBusters! We have vended almost twice as many dates than we did in 2016. We have also added Watkins products to our out of town vending dates and both of those factors have had a huge impact on what we do.
Our calendar has only two Christmas Fair dates in it this year where last year at this time we had five different ones booked. The regular weekly dates in Oliver have really changed what we do and have added a stabilizing effect to the overall effort we put into the JamBusters! product. By the time this year closes we will have vended a total of over 50 dates. That for me, has made this a very exciting year filled with great days of sales, fun interaction with customers, repeat customers seeking us out and a lot of fun spent with George in this joint venture of ours.
Plus, being in the same spot each time we vended was a nice treat. Both George and I started to really look forward to the 130-kilometre trip from home to Oliver and it soon got easier and easier to do. We also started to form friendships with other vendors with space in the same part of the Oliver Indoor Flea Market building as us. And our customer base was growing.
In all, although October was still busy, it provided us an opportunity to more or less relax. George commented several times how much he appreciated not having to load and unload the car of all our vending material these days. When we vend in Oliver the inventory stays there and all we do is either add to it or remove items we no longer need on site. Very easy on both of us!
It was also during the month of October and into November when we decided to take stock of what was in Oliver and what was stored at home. I still had several canning days ahead of me so I used them to replenish stock and increase the inventory sitting at home. We currently have enough stock that if we have a date away from Oliver we can stock it from the home inventory.
The beginning of November was hectic for me as I had booked a Friday night event that ran along with a Saturday and Sunday vending weekend in Oliver. The Friday night event on November 10 was at a local restaurant. I had attended a similar event at the same venue in March of 2016 so I had an idea of how it would go. It turned out to be much better than I expected.
The entire three date weekend I had to do on my own as George had three other commitments on those dates. I wasn’t looking forward to it and at one point seriously considered skipping one or both Oliver dates but George more or less convinced me it would be good for me to go solo. Sales were off and I think it may have been partly because he wasn’t there to help out.
One thing I rarely think about is our jar count. We keep track of it but I couldn’t tell you with any accuracy how many jars we sold last week or yesterday if I had to. George records and tracks all of that data. He told me after I returned from the solo Sunday date in Oliver on November 12 that I had sold my 1,000th jar that day. I would never have imagined that.
For us to sell over 1,000 jars in just ten-and-a-half months of 2017 was amazing to me. However, this year has been very different to any previous year with JamBusters! We have vended almost twice as many dates than we did in 2016. We have also added Watkins products to our out of town vending dates and both of those factors have had a huge impact on what we do.
Our calendar has only two Christmas Fair dates in it this year where last year at this time we had five different ones booked. The regular weekly dates in Oliver have really changed what we do and have added a stabilizing effect to the overall effort we put into the JamBusters! product. By the time this year closes we will have vended a total of over 50 dates. That for me, has made this a very exciting year filled with great days of sales, fun interaction with customers, repeat customers seeking us out and a lot of fun spent with George in this joint venture of ours.
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