Craft market tips and tricks

Maybelle Crochet Flower Garland - Buy it in my ETSY shop.

I helped my dear friend Tamara to set up her "Pop-up Boutique" Spice Your Life the other day. She did a 3-day long Bazaar event together with 3 other small "Pop-up Boutiques" to sell her wonderful selection of Scandinavian design home ware, gifts, bags, shawls and fun accessories. Some of you might remember that I sell my creations in her shop every now and then.

When setting up a room for a Bazaar, like we did, it always start with an utter mess and you just wonder how on earth will this become nice and pretty - ever!!! I wish I had taken a before picture because it was a bit of a challenge when all things arrived in bags, boxes and was spread out in this empty room. Luckily the room was a pleasure to work with as it had these beautiful high windows and closets with removable doors on, lots of shelves and great big table. In the end I think we did an awesome job. Let me share some of my tips and tricks with you:

♥ Think as a customer. Enter your room, boot, stand as a customer and reflect upon where you look first. This is your primer selling spot. Continue to do this during your decorating process and change and move things around until it feels right.

♥  Start with a nice table cloth on your tables, preferable calm and solid in color and pattern to not be distracting to your things and it is good if it hangs down a bit on the sides to cover up what you have underneath your table. We used a wonderful linen bed throw with embroidered patches as a table cloth.

♥ Work with one surface at the time to begin with, for example we started with the table in the back and then moved on to the shelves in this room and finished with the big table in the middle. Later you can back off and look at the overall view and change if needed.

♥ Display props that are good to bring are baskets, boxes, hooks, clothes pins, scissors, safety pins, tape, string, chairs, bowls, racks, hangers...

♥ Build from the back to the front on shelves and tables that are pushed against walls. Start with large items in the back. Use boxes to pile things up on to add a variety of height. I call this the staircase technique as you expose your things like you would on steps in a staircase.

♥ Collect your things in groups, for example we collected all frosted glass ware together in one spot, all kid's stuff in a corner, all Bruka design pottery in one spot. You can also group it into color themes or seasonal themes. 
 
♥ Use props such as fruit or skeins of yarn in a bowl, flowers in a flower pot, colorful jelly beans in a candy bowl.

♥ Remember that you can fold, hang, roll, stand, lay and pile things. A blanket can be hung over a chair back. Pillows can be stacked in a pile, towels can be rolled and put standing in a basket. Knitted hats can be hung with clothes pins on a string across a wall or on strings hanging down from the roof!

♥ Use your wall space. This is the most tricky part. You can not put nails or drill into walls in a public place but you can use tape and string, a cupboard door with a hanger already attached to it. You can also use a folding wall that you have brought as a prop, which allows you to use nails and screw on hooks to it and then lean it towards the wall. Use your imagination.

♥ Light candles (or use LED candles if you prefer) in candle holders, hang garlands and buntings over windows, door posts, across the room. I added a bit of a My Rose Valley touch when decorating with my Maybelle garlands, available in my ETSY shop. :D Prettify as much as you can. :D

♥ Don't forget to spread out your business cards, hand out flyers and another great thing is to have a guest book for your visitors to sign with their email address. That way you can add them to your Newsletter list later on.

♥ Stay calm and cool, friendly and smiley. Bring a small crochet project to work on if it is quiet at times, that always brings interest to people when they actually see you doing your crafts in action. Don't hide. Tamara is in constant motion around the room. Chatting and being social. We are not all like that but it helps. She sells well. Me on the other hand are more of a quiet seller, but it helps to be a bit forward and bold. Compliment something the customer is wearing to start a chat or move something around on your table to show your stand/room/boot is not static and boring.

Well, I guess this post ended up much longer than I planned for. Hope my tips and tricks have been helpful. Are you planning to do a market or a Bazaar any time soon? What are your tips and tricks on display and selling?

Now I am back to my crochet hook. YES! But only for maximum 10 minute sessions a few times a day. I am better. The computer kills me and I am still staying somewhat away from the keyboard (NOT!!! Looking at this blog post I am SO NOT doing very well staying away....:D Cheeky me!)

Speak soon and happy weekend.

Kärlek
Annette