Posted by ClearSkies on January 28, 2008, at 11:41:02
Our antiques business just completed its first ever show. Two and a half days in the Florida (mostly) sunshine. All the old-timers - I guess that would be antique-antique dealers - all say that it's nothing like "the old days" were, when thousands of dollars every day were to be made at these shows. There certainly wasn't any kind of money like that exchanging hands at this show - things were rather slow. Lots of looking, and not too much buying.
But you know what? We did just fine. We did better than fine; I had a lot of fun. I made a very respectable amount of money, well in line with what the other dealers were trading. There's a wonderful sense of community amongst the dealers; I got an enormous amount of validation from them for our selection of inventory and our pricing; I got some great tips on displaying and storage; I had a lot of fun this first time out, and I'm really encouraged to keep this hobby going.
None of the dealers I met own a computer, use eBay or have any knowledge of the internet at all. These live shows are a different thing from the online stores, in the area that I live, at least. Illuminating. I handed out a lot of business cards to customers at our booth for the website, and I have several thank you notes to pen today for the encouragement that I received this weekend.
ClearSkies, indeed.
:-)
poster:ClearSkies
thread:809339
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20080104/msgs/809339.html