For the longest time I’ve toyed with the idea of running my own market stall.  I love my little etsy shop, but it bums me out that I have to charge so much for shipping and I miss getting to interact with my customers.  I thought it would be a fun experiment to run a stall at a craft market.  So my resolution for September was to make this happen.

 

 

I didn’t manage to get this one off the ground.  The biggest reason is that work was insane this month and I did very little else other than eating, sleeping and the occasional round of Mario Kart.  It was pretty unrealistic to think that I’d be able to host a market stall as well.

 

I did start doing some serious planning for when I do get a stall going.  And this planning made me realise that I have a LOT of work to do before I’ll be ready to run a stall of my own.  I began researching markets in the area and calculating which ones I thought would be most suited to the kinds of crafts I sell.  In a lot of cases, it can take six weeks to apply and be approved for a market stall, so the application process alone is pretty taxing.

 

 

I will also need to get the bare bones for my stall.  I’ll probably hire a trestle table, and maybe borrow a little tent or shade cloth from a friend if the market is outdoors.  I’ll also need to get display shelves or racks for my items.

 

My inventory also needs a fair bit of work.  Because I sell on etsy, and a lot of my items are made-to-order, I usually just make a sample item to begin with.  So I have a lot of single items, but not many multiples of items.  Before the market I need to think carefully about which items I think will be good sellers and then make a bunch in different colours and sizes.  I will also need to price each of these items, and think about packaging as well.

 

There will be a lot of work and planning before I am even close to ready to run my own stall.  But I’ve made progress.  I’ve planned out the tasks I need to do to get a stall going and I’ve put a deadline for each one in my diary.  I haven’t reached my goal yet, but I have a roadmap and I am plodding towards the finish line.  There is a market in April next year that I’d really like to participate in, so I’m making that my goal for now.

 

 

Have you even run a market stall?  What was it like?  Did you have to do a lot of planning beforehand?