Indoor show coming up in Fort Lauderdale

Of course (of course!) I'm filled with anxiety about our first indoor show, our first show in Fort Lauderdale, coming up next weekend - August 2nd and 3rd - who would I be without my stories of anxiety that never come to fruition? Gotta keep that monkey mind busy, is the order of the day.

We have our lovely and to-code fire retardant table covers. We are amply - AMPLY, that is - stocked for the upcoming season. Nothing has been packed away even unless it's been priced and tagged, which is pretty methodical if I say so myself. We installed the passenger seat in the minivan because Bob's daughter will be accompanying us, both to help us set up for the show, and to visit with his parents. This does mean that we'll have less room to take things with us, but, on the other hand, we're not having to take tables and chairs with us. I'm thinking it'll be a toss-up.

So what on earth am I so worried about?

Worried that we won't be successful. Several months have passed since our last show, and the nation's economy has been in steady decline, particularly in our part of the state. Gas prices have risen steeply. I know that I am not going out for shopping trips as often, and I'm feeling the impact that higher food and gas prices are having on my own discretionary funds - times are feeling tighter.

But Fort Lauderdale is worlds away from here. Just the other side of the Florida coast from us, the local population is much more affluent and the economy more stable than ours presently is. There's more of year-round population than our transient one, too (the traffic is horrendous!). Having an antique show during the summer in Florida is kind of, well, weird. You just wouldn't do that where we live - there's no business, and no dealers, either. They all go up north. But we're making the presumption that this show in Fort Lauderdale will have customers, and plenty of dealers.

I would love to say that I'm excited rather than anxious about this show. And perhaps it's partly because we've had this gap in our selling season, and I just don't have a pulse on the shopping public at the moment. All I know is what I'm exhibiting as behavior - which is, stagnancy. I'm not doing much shopping, and I'm not doing much driving either. I'm holding my breath, really. Which is also uncomfortable! And makes for more anxiety. (Note to self - remember to breathe!!!) Maybe it's just in my nature to worry so before an event. I do know that on the day, I will be able to relax and enjoy the moment, enjoy the buzz of seeing other dealers and their treasures, and really enjoy engaging with the public. As much anxiety as I've ever felt, it doesn't interfere with the business itself, which is good :-)

The show season is trickling in

Like the snow melt at the start of spring, we've begin to see a show here and there get booked for the season which is almost upon us.

The first is a pre-season show, really, and such an exciting departure for us, because it's an indoor event. AIR CONDITIONING!!! NO WIND!!! NO SUN!!! (Can you tell I'm charged up about this one?) We'll be at the Fort Lauderdale Antique and Collector Faire on August 2nd and 3rd. We'll stay with Bob's folks and so will save on the hotel expense. We invested in some classy looking navy blue flame retardant tablecloths that reach to the floor for our tables, because we do plan to do more indoor shows in the future. The fees are higher than outdoor shows for a vendor, but the advantages - particularly at this time of year, with the weather so capricious, makes it a no-brainer for us.

We had considered doing a dry run of setting up the booth in advance of the show. On Sunday we cleared the garage of our vehicle and set up a table, put the new tablecloth on it (looks great!), and then kind of stood there... because it dawned on us that we didn't really need to do any more preparation than that. We've already determined that our merchandise is substantially better than most at the outdoor venues, and the last show we did we already weeded out what we would not be taking to an indoor show, by putting those items in a separate bin and marking it appropriately. So the work has already been done. I guess we were just a bit nervous, eh?

But I don't think we'll change what we take to the Ft Lauderdale show. Our teapots, the other porcelain, ceramic and glass items; books and jewelry; and pictures. As I've written here, Bob's done plenty of restocking for this upcoming season (ahem), so there's no worry that we won't have a good variety to bring. I do have confidence that the quality of our merchandise is up to the standards of any indoor show we've been to.

In September, we've got a show in Dade City booked, on the 27th and 28th. We did their spring event and really loved the setting and the show was a great one for us. I've requested the same booth space - since we prepay for the spot, rather than reserve it and pay on the day of the event, we'll probably be granted our favored spot. It was under several large trees in the municipal parking lot. We'll bring the shade canopy with us, though, since we won't be able to rely on the weather's cooperation on the day, and we've learned the trick to anchoring the canopy on pavement without being able to drive stakes into the ground. (That would be attaching gallon bottles of water to the canopy with bungee cords - that sucker will not budge. Sometimes you need to add a couple of cinder blocks to the base for extra measure.)

And a few weeks after that, we do another indoor show, this time close by in St. Petersburg. On October 10th through the 12th we'll be at the Sunshine City Antiques and Collectibles Show at the Coliseum. (A note about the link for this show - it hasn't been updated since the January 2008 show, grrr. Oh, and there's a typo on the title of the link too. I hate stuff like that! Why do they start promoting the shows when the websites aren't up to date? Drives me batty.) We've gone to this show as consumers every year since we've lived in the area, and started talking about having a booth there as soon as we bought the business. It will be interesting to see if it lives up to our expectations. The venue is rather wonderful - a Jazz Age dance hall that is still used for weekly Tea Dances, across from the Lawn Bowling Club. Can't get any more "old St. Pete" than that. It's always really well attended, with some wonderful vendors.

So the summer has barely started, and we already have the new season starting to get booked up. I think it's pretty wonderful - I guess I'm in the right business.

Here's a photo for today - another piece of Bunnykins. This is called a Hug-a-Mug. Such a cute name for a practical shape, made for little hands to easily bring a cuppa something safely to their mouths. This design is called Unravelling The Knitting, for obvious reasons! Everybody is pretty cheeky on this cup, even the design on the reverse side, showing a bunny with a piece of knitting wrapped around his head. You can see why I love these adorable pieces so much.

Doing some Shopping, and Looking Ahead

We're going to an estate sale tomorrow afternoon. What a luxury - a sale during the week and without a show facing us! It's been a while since we've felt the absence of any pressure to restock, but we have officially ended the show season. We won't be doing anything until an indoor event in Fort Lauderdale at the beginning of August.

So now we are able to catch our breath and really take a close look at what we have left from the shortened season that we just got through. I want to do a review of exactly what has sold well for us - I bet it won't be what we think it's been. I know that Bob gets excited every time we've sold something that takes up a lot of space! even if it hasn't been of high value; he's also been pretty happy when something heavy has sold, because it's meant that he wouldn't have to lift and carry it again... So does that mean we should only be buying light, fluffy things??

I can see us developing several different levels of merchandise. One level for outdoor shows, where people expect to find and see the "bargains" of the collectibles world. The $5 table at the Treasure Island show was truly a good thing for us, because it allowed us to pull together a bunch of items that we wanted to clear out of stock and reduce their prices to sell. It was the right thing to do, and it created some room for us.

Bob and I want to start doing indoor shows, which cost more to participate in - usually three times the cost of doing the same show out of doors. But you don't see the same merchandise indoors as outdoors - once inside, you see a higher quality of merchandise, expect to see higher prices, and you might not even negotiate on the prices as you would outside. All this just for airconditioning!

The good news is that we won't have to buy all new (old) merchandise in order to start selling at these indoor shows. We already have a broad range of prices and values in what we offer. We will have to go through the bins and decide what exactly is appropriate for the indoor show, and what we should leave at home - and that brings up another point: we'll likely have less space, so we'll have to be more discriminating in what we bring.

I'll also take a look at table coverings that can help make our lovelies pop! The right color and texture can make a big difference. At the higher end of the shows you see retailers getting into elaborate displays, spot lights, and cases. Again, since this is our first year, I'll be trying to keep things as simple and inexpensive as I can for now.

Realistically I think we'll be doing both types of shows, as weather permits, and where it makes sense to do business indoors and where it will be expected that we show outside.

Meanwhile, eCrater awaits. I've been toiling on putting the correct values into the dreaded Shipping Matrix, the place where you can make or break your own store. I've read easily 20 pages in their online forum about the subject, so it's worthy of extra study up front, before I get too deep into this new store. Once those values are in (how much to charge for shipping by weight), then I can start to enter some items into inventory, which will require me to enter a weight in for each at that time. If I don't have a value for weight, then I can't enter an item. Luckily, I just happened to have bought a postal-grade scale when I was setting the shop at at That Other Internet Place - which we didn't end up using, but should have, in hindsight.

But first things first. Shipping Matrix. Then I get to pass go.