|
|
Well, folks, it's that time of the year.... FESTIVAL TIME!! The weather is warm, creativity is brimming over, and people have the spring-fever-urge to shop, shop, SHOP! I am currently in the middle of preparing for the Indie Craft Experience festival, a twice-a-year craft market designed for indie and emerging designers with a "DIY State-of-Mind." I did this festival on my own last year, and while the weather was absolutely sweltering, I had a fulfilling and fun time, and got to introduce my product to an entirely new client base.
This year, I am sharing a booth with 8 of my fellow Beehivers to help create a feeling of community within the festival, and simultaneously help all of our businesses by keeping down spending costs. While sales in the market are waning, the booth fee and associated costs of festivals has either risen or stayed the same, making it difficult for we emerging designers to pay for it all. Getting together with your fellow designers - essentially - is doing festivals "Co-op Style."
Obviously, the marketplace is still hurting as a whole. While we have glimpses of the buying habits of our customers increasing, realistically it will be more time until things completely stabilize for all of us in the retail market. This year, I have had to take on more festivals to supplement my income (whereas I used to get the same amount of money from my boutique sales and orders, alone). In order to do this most effecitvely, I've chosen to continuously collaborate with my fellow Bees in festivals, including Tasha Hussey and Shannon Edwards of Shannon Lynnette , with a multi-function: joining together allows us to support and learn from eachother, allows us to learn who is our customer firsthand, and allows us to promote the Beehive, which benefits us all.
A way to continue to assist our ailing market is to continue to purchase from your local community retailers, like the Beehive, so the money attained continues to funnel within the community itself and facilitate and nourish its growth. I encourage you to come and join us this weekend for at the I.C.E. festival, where you'll find a fantastic array of extraordinarily talented artists and their wares, and help your own community at the same time. See you there!
|
Currently rated 0 by 0 people
|
|
|
|
Subscribe:
Email  |
RSS 
|
