Mainecrafters craft blog

We just did our last Craft fair of the 2008 season yesterday December 6th. So I thought I would post some of our thoughts for this season and some plans that we have for the next season.

This is our 13th year of selling our items at local Craft Fairs in southern Maine. How time flies by. This year we sold items at 5 craft shows. Out of these 5 shows 1 was put on by a church, 2 were schools, and 2 were put on by organizations to raise money for charity. We had 4 shows in November and 1 in December. We were thinking of doing another show in December but decided not to. The reasons why will become evident further along in this post.

The first fair at the church was very slow. However, this was the first time we set up at this location. But we have been at the show on previous years as shoppers. This year it appeared to me that attendance was way down at this show compared to when we were looking around at the show on previous years. I even had fellow crafters that had done this show before say that to me. It appeared to me that the only shoppers were people from the congregation. This show was on November 1st so it may have been a bit early. Also I believe this was when the “Financial Mess” first hit home. I think the combination of these 2 things really effected sales and attendance at this particular show. Since it was kind of early, people were not in the Craft Fair mind set yet, and the people that were there were very careful about spending their money because they were worried about needing that money for other things like fuel and food. So we sold nothing but that’s the way it goes sometimes. Unless the economy turns around drastically, we will not be doing this show next year.

The next show was at the ELKS Club. We have done this show before in previous years and it has always been a well attended, well advertised,  and well organized show. This year it was well organized and well advertised but the attendance was down I would say by 15% of where it was in previous years. People were opening their wallets but they appeared to be cautious about what they spent their money on. It appeared that most buyers were shopping for unique items for Christmas presents. They would buy if the item was something different that they could not find in a box store but they were still paying attention to pricing. Most crafters I talked to liked the show and did sell enough to at least make their table rent plus a bit more. We did the same. We made our table rent plus made enough for the table rent on the previous show.

The next show we did was at a school. This was the first time we did this particular show. It was very well organized. At this show the proceeds went to the High School Soccer team and what I liked was the fact that the kids helped you carry your items into the show. They also helped you carry it back out when the show was done. Also, at the end of the show, the athletic coach came around and introduced himself and thanked each crafter for coming. That adds so much to the show. Just because of this kind of focus on the crafter, I would have attended this show again next year even if I sold nothing. Anyway, this was a well attended, well advertised, very well organized show. Most of the Crafters I talked to made their table money but not much more than that. One observation I made was there was a lot of jewelery makers at that show. I think that kind of hurt their sales a bit. We made enough for our table plus a liitle more. Another note on this Craft Fair. There was a fair going on at the church across the street and at the University of Maine up the road at the same time this show was put on. That may have actually helped with the attendance. I will definitely be doing this show again next year.

The next show we did is one of our ”Old Faithful” shows that we have been going to for years. That is the show that Hannford’s put on to raise money for the United Way. The show is held at the Steven’s Avenue Armory in Portland Maine. We used to do these shows when they were at the ELKS Club in Portland. This has always been a well organized, well attended, very well advertised show.  This year it was still a great show. However, the organization this year was a bit messed up. I think they may have a new person organizing the show this year. When the crafters that pre paid for 2 tables came to set up, they found that the people who marked the tables only allocated 1 table to these crafters. We were one of these crafters that paid for 2 tables. So this caused a lot of number swapping on the tables and a lot of crafters with 2 tables were stuck on the far edges and corners instead of where they were supposed to be originally. Also they had to cram the tables end to end without space between them. So the only way to get to the front of your table is by going under your table. I was lucky in that I was stuck in a corner so I could move my table so I had a space to get out from behind the table. Also because of this organization mess, they asked me to slide my 2 tables down about 3 feet to make space for another table down the line after I was all set up. Fortunately, they had enough workers so we were able to move the 2 tables without anything getting broken. Anyway, this show ended up very good for us. We made about 3 times the table at this show. Attendance was good but not as good as last year. Down about 15%. But the people that went to this show was spending. Still a bit cautious but I did see quite a few people carrying bags of craft items. Hannaford does a lot for this show. They had grab bags filled with items found in their grocery store. A lot of people including Crafters were buying these grab bags. I think they started out at $4.00 and went down to $1.00 by the end of the show. We have done this show for many years and will do it again next year. I am just hoping the organizers learned from some of their mistakes this year and the organizing will get better next year.

The last show we did was another school show. This is the first time we ever did this show. The show was in a large High School. This show was well attended and well advertised. The organization was good except for when the crafters showed up in the morning to set up, the person with the information as to which tables were assigned to which crafter, was not there yet. I showed up to set up at 7:00am. The show was open to the general public from 9:00am to 2:00pm. The information given to the crafters did not specify the setup time so I may have been a bit early but since other crafters were already there waiting, I don’t think so.  Once the chief organizer showed up at about 7:30 with the table list, everything went smoothly. The show was well attended but what I noticed is people were not buying unless your table had a sign stating 20%, 40%, or 60% off. I think this is due to all of the sales that the big malls and box stores were doing this year. people are not buying unless they think they are getting a deal. Even though in reality, anyone could put a sign out saying that the item is 60% off of suggested retail price even though suggested retail may be inflated. I, however, kept my prices where they were all season. No sales, markdowns, or gimmicks and sold nothing. This is why we decided that this is the end of the 2008 craft season for us. I may look at doing this show again next year but maybe with a different sales strategy. Can you say “40% off suggested retail”?

Anyway, to sum it up, for the 2008 craft season:

Attendance was down about 15-20%

Sales down about 40%

Cost of doing Business (Table rent, materials,etc) about the same as always for us. Although we did try a new product line, pens, that cost us more in initial investment.

Thoughts and strategies for next year:

We are not going to bring on many new items. I have one new item that I am working on in the Pen product line. However, I am not going to invest on other new products in this line until there are signs that the economy is turning around. My wife has some new products in the Doll Bank area that she had out on some of the fairs this year. She will keep with these products and possibly finish up on some miscellaneous projects that she has going for next year. All of the money earned from this craft fair season will be put toward keeping the business on the internet as in web hosting costs, SSL certification, etc.

By the way, internet sales were way up for us this year. As a matter of fact, this is the first year in 6 years that we have actually sold something from our web site through the shopping cart program. that is very encouraging indeed. So I think more effort and money will be going that way to keep us alive.

Thanks for listening and, as always, your comments are appreciated.