So it's been a week since Renegade, but I never made a post about my experiences. Here are my honest opinions as a vendor.. pros & cons:+/- It was in a park.. (+) because it was pretty, "fresh air", grass, more space, (-) because some people got weird end spots that I think could make it confusing for shoppers, and the track is pretty big.. (People probably wouldn't make another round unless they really had the time, or they might not remember where somewhere was since it was a circle, it could be confusing) also, many seemed to just be taking a casual stroll.
- There were too many vendors. My original mind set was, oh, more booths, more people will come to check it out! But I think there were 2 other soap vendors besides myself last year, and it was at least double this year. I'm sure this eats into vendors sales because there are just too many choices.
+ The weather, besides it was way too hot at times, I'll take that over rain and paper labels any day.
+ The renegade staff. I don't know if this staff member overheard me complaining or what, but the first morning we got there we realized we were on a curve and that meant the front was 10 feet but not the back. This guy came out of nowhere asking if we wanted to be moved and was really helpful (Although someone else ended up moving so we ended up with enough room).
+ The vendors. Everyone around me was really sweet and helpful. Someone gave us her tent sides so we could set up a mock tent (since we were positioned outside of ours) and get shade!
Overall.. I did feel like it was slow, my booth would be fairly empty/no sales for awhile, but then there would be spurts. It was worrisome and I was actually pretty bored at times! but, after adding up my sales, I'm pretty pleased with how I did, and my sales were only off $8 from sat to sun. But, that is not including some lady at the end of the day Sunday who wanted to "buy all your soaps right now" (wholesale). Although that didn't happen exactly, she still walked around with a good amount and seemed to want to buy more in the future. so + For connections
Images here.
Also, in case you're curious of the top sellers at Renegade:
1) Cabana Boy
2) McCarren Park
3) Manhattan
4) Sweet Tea (now sold out..I'll have to make more)
5) Mojito
Posts
Love your soap on Etsy with the coffee grounds in it. My daughter was born in England so she has her Nana over there she visits when she sees her father (me and her father are divorced)so we are clued in to the British slang!
charkstudios
June 15, 2009 at 2:11 PMHey Michelle,
I was one of the soap vendors there, was there last year too (disquieting designs...under a different name this year) and I totally agree. There were a total of SEVEN soap vendors there this year. ugh, oversaturated much?
meg
July 22, 2009 at 11:50 PMLove your booth set up. I have a couple of shows that I do and I sometimes feel that they should limit the amount of like vendors also. But I get a lot of people who go looking for my booth so that is always nice.
I Love your displays.
Body Natural Soap
July 28, 2009 at 9:12 AM