Monday 9 November 2009

Where have all the customers gone?

Well, the craft fair at Emmanuel College didn't go as well as planned. The weather was lovely when we set off from home: a gorgeous cripsy cold day but sunny and bright - perfect weather for buying scarves and Christmas decorations, we thought!

Normally the organisers just have the main hall set up as the selling area, but this year they added an extra room near the entrance to the college too. And that, we think, is possibly where the problem was. The signage from the first room to the hall was minimal, and there were no staff directing people either. It seems as if the only people that came to the main area were those that had been to previous fairs, or those that went to the cafe and stumbled upon us!



There were about 80 stalls at the fair in total (20 in the smaller room and about 60 in the main hall) so I thought it was a great fair to be at - but the organisation could have been better. All of the stall holders that we spoke too had had a really poor day as there were so few prospective customers. We managed to cover the cost of our stall but that was all.

There was also a big Christmas fair at Gosforth Racecourse over the weekend so that will have taken a lot of custom away from ours. The college's fair organisers may need to have a rethink before next year's event.



The one consolation is that I don't have to replace many things for my next fair this coming Saturday! The Arts & Crafts Fair at the Grainger Market in Newcastle (see previous post) is held once a month and it gets a good amount of passing trade, so fingers crossed that we will be much more successful there. We did quite well at the fair in October when it was relatively quiet (so the regular stall holders thought), so hopefully people will be in the swing of the Christmas shopping and the fair on Saturday will be really buzzing. Here's hoping.



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7 comments:

  1. Craft Fairs are really quiet at the moment. Your stall looks really good. Hope you have a better day on Saturday.

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  2. Your stall looks great tho. The bad craft fairs I have done are always when there is more than one room and people just don't realise if the signage isn't good. What a shame. Also it still feels a bit too early for Christmas for a lot of people I think. Hopefully by the next one everyone will be madly Christmas shopping!

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  3. I have heard a few people saying how quite craft fairs are at the moment. Next time will be much better for you I hope! suzie. x

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  4. Your stall looks very colourful and attractive. Don't let a bad experience put you off! Best of luck for your next fair.

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  5. NO LUCK WITH YOUR LAST CRAFT FAIR.
    IF NOWT ELSE YOUR STALL LOOKS VERY COLOURFUL AND WELL LAID OUT.
    BEST OF LUCK ON SATURDAY, STAY POSITIVE.
    XXX

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  6. Lovely looking stall! Good luck for the next one.

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  7. Thanks for your kind words everyone. The fair this week was much better!

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