Having a vendor space, the good, the bad and the ugly

Tuesday | 22:46

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Having a vendor space, the good, the bad and the ugly

In January, my friend Mckell and I found out that we had been accepted to be vendors at Merchant Square, a local antique shop.

It has been a fantastic experience, but oh my goodness was I naive going into it.

I (innocently) plotting that everything would sell in a week, two weeks tops.

But obviously that wasn’t the case.

So I sought after to share the excellent, the terrible and the hideous of having a vendor space.

(At least according to me. :))

The Excellent

1. Becoming a vendor has been a lot of fun. I like the people who work at Merchant Square, I like the other vendors I’ve met and the relationships I’m building. Being a stay at home mom, I really like getting out being a “business woman”. I like having a leisure activity that is self sustaining and that can help supplement our income.

2. I can sell a greater variety of items at the store. Being in a vendor space allows me to sell small items which honestly, brings in the largest part of what I earn. Export a piece of furniture is a large buy, but export a small decorative item is less committal so they sell nearer.

3. I get a paycheck. I kind of covered this already, but it really has been a blessing to have a place to sell a large variety of items and the extra income it provides for us.

4. I have a place to store my finished pieces. This might be the one of the greatest perks. Instead of having a garage full of pieces and limited work space, as soon as a piece is ready I can take it into the store.

5. People see your items everyday. Craigslist can be hit or miss with how many people see your items for sale, but with a vendor space, I know that my work will be getting transfer all day.

The Terrible

1. Opening/closing times. Occasionally I have people who contact me through my blog or through Craigslist who want to see a piece, but the store is closed for the day. There have been a handful of times where I probably lost a sale because they couldn’t see the piece that day.

2. Rent. Rent is kind of a necessarily evil. Since I share a booth with Mckell we split the rent which is fantastic. When we were looking for a place to sell, we did a lot of research on cost and benefits. We found a few places that were a small cheaper to rent, but they didn’t advertise or they were off the beaten path and didn’t get a lot of transfer. Sometimes it is a small hard to see some of my profit go to rent, but over all the benefit of being in the space makes it worth it.

3. Being busier. Again, this really isn’t a terrible thing. Sometimes it can be a small worrying knowing that I am paying for a space, and the pressure to keep it stocked keeps me awake sometimes. But again sharing a booth makes it a lot simpler to keep it stocked.

The Hideous

Really, nothing! The whole experience has been fantastic, but we did our research and new the conditions of our contract with the store. If you’re thinking of doing it make sure you look into all the details so that you don’t get surprised with whatever thing.