It was a bad show for us. Nobody told us it had turned into a flea market. If they had, we would have brought the correct merchandise at the garage-sale prices that other vendors (I refuse to call them dealers, despite having seen some of them at other, indoor, higher-end shows in the past) had on offer. There were $1 tables, $5 tables, teapots without lids, lids without whatever they were supposed to go to, tables so heavily laden with cheap, plastic necklaces at a buck a pop that I wondered where on earth someone could find so much jewelry that clearly didn't belong at something called an ANTIQUE show.
It took us 4 1/2 hours to make enough money to cover the rent. The next 2 hours we made enough to cover lunch and the cost of fuel. Oh, our *time* is free. Apparently. The show turned from an absolute failure into barely scraping into "pass" category only as we started to pack up. We waited until the end of the show to pack - we wanted this to work. Someone came back to buy a necklace half an hour later than they said they would. Someone else bought a lamp right out of the padding and the box it was packed into. Those 2 purchases were the only things that saved the show. Too close!
As to the subject of inventory type and pricing... there apparently is an informational LOOP that we are unaware of. Such as when a regularly well attended regional antique show flips and flops and becomes a trash-to-treasures show. Frankly, we did a lot better at our community's annual garage sale, without the hassle of waking up at 4:45AM, setting up tables, coverings, bookcases and displays, than we did at this show. Although we do not calculate our weekend hours into the cost of doing business, this is only because we don't want to see the naked truth. Which is - this is a great way to become poor.
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