St. Petersburg Antique Fair (groan...)

Last weekend we did Jeff Francis' alternative offer to the Tampa and Sarasota shows of 2008 that he had to cancel, held at his warehouse property in St. Petersburg.

I could say a lot of things about this show, but will keep it short: the worst one we've EVER done. Hardly any dealers, hardly any customers, and on Sunday we made one solitary sale.

OK, I'll expand a bit.
Awkward location. People had a lot of trouble following Jeff's directions to the show.
Poorly promoted - so poor dealer participation, and poor customer turnout. It's tough to hold randomly scheduled shows like this - at different dates and locations than his previous shows - and expect to get a good turnout. But I can't for the life of me figure out why he wouldn't at least put an ad in one of the trade journals to attract vendors. More vendors means more rent income for him, and more money to spend on promoting the show locally... it just wasn't going on.

It left me in a real funk, with a sore back, and it took two days to really get myself off the sofa, to mull over this coming weekend's show. It's the "Trash To Treasures" event in Tarpon Springs and last year we were surprised to discover it was basically a flea market. This time we're prepared with the right quality and price of merchandise so it SHOULD be an OK show for us.

I no longer expect great shows.