Anyone have a booth at an Antique Mall?

Last weekend was decent for us, and yesterday was pretty good! most of our friends at the flea market said they had pretty good days, as well. I think what's helping us is that school has been out 2 weeks here, and the kids are driving people nuts lol! We (and our friends) sold every video game system we had, and someone even tried to buy the one we had taken in for repairs! Now, the heat is causing people to be a bit rude and difficult to deal with, but that's the price for making money sometimes, isn't it? We have only been able to set up on Saturdays so far this month due to family obligations, but the rest of the month will be able to work Saturday and Sundays, so we can get back on track. Funds have been perilously low lately (due to sales being so low), but we did get a chance to make 2 great bulk buys, and they have paid off well in just the last week...that makes you kinda refocus and get back on the ball. Plus getting past all the birthdays and events of the last 2 months makes me feel more refocused.

We've had a small surge in Amazon sales, as well, which is nice, as it had been slower than normal for the last month. Traditionally, for us, summer is slow slow slow for local sales, and Amazon saves us, but it did not look like it would lately, so I am glad to see the uptick.

On a side note, a couple we have become dear friends with gave us their booth permanently (it is attached to ours), since they now only come once a month, and moved one booth over so they can just rent it when they feel like it. The market owners continue to be discourteous to vendors, so our friends are talking of selling all their inventory and quitting. A lot of regular vendors have quit or lowered the number of booths they rent. About 1/3 of the indoor vendors have quit. The lack of vendors is great for those of us sticking around (less competition= more sales), but the attitude from the owners stinks. As they get fewer and fewer vendors, they get more frustrated and share that with everyone.

We are continuing to have mixed days of sales.

Yesterday, a gang buster day. Today, a Sunday, which happens to be Father's day, our sales were just horrid. Horrid, as in "it has been sleeting for two days, and a major ice storm is coming, followed by up to 8 inches of snow" type of horrid.

Generally speaking, Father's day can be pretty good for sales...but not this year.

Go figure.

A crazy week:

Sales for the past Sunday were awful. Typically, weekend sales are terrific, and traditionally speaking, Tuesdays are just really, really, really slow days.

This week? This Tuesday was a good day for sales. Not enough to make up for the awful sales we had on Sunday, but surprisingly good.

Go figure!

Clovis, you're right, it's a crazy month! Yesterday we did well, a little above our goal. Which was a good thing because today, awful! It took from 7 till noon to make $45! If you take into account that we had to pay $36 for the booths, we made $9. But, if you take into account what we paid for what we sold (yes, we sold so few things that I could actually keep track of it!), we lost $2! Other vendors said the same thing, so we left early! No point in sitting in 102 degree heat for nothing! Also lots of empty tables. You used to have to fight for tables on our row, today we had 5 empty booths to 1 side of us and 4 to the other for 1/2 the day. And the annoying thing....the people who did bother to stop at the tables were offering 1/2 or less of what everyone was asking, no matter how low or reasonable the price was! Haggling over 50 cent items that were new in the package....really!?!?

Sorry to hear that, shannsmom.

I've had more than my fair share of silly offers, and I don't typically man the booth since we are in an indoor flea market, set up like any antique mall.

$3 for a shovel that retails at Lowes for $30? $2 for a $28 sledge hammer? I don't mind cutting a deal, or listening to reasonable offers, but I don't jack with the extreme low ball people. Generally speaking, I smile politely and say "thank you, but I need to stay at $__ on this item."

BTW, we had an okay weekend. Not great, but I can live with it.

Also, my DD sold a window for $15. She is thrilled!!

Earthymomma,

How are your sales??? You mentioned that your opening weekend was great. I hope your sales have continued to be good!!!

Thanks for checking in Clovis, I've officially surpassed rent and still have 2 weeks left before payout. So we will at least get a check this month. I am very thankful. Things seem to be steadily picking up. I finished several larger projects and dropped them off on Saturday morning as well (a metal buffet, refinished bar stools and a full length mirror) so that should help as well :-)

I am on cloud nine!!!!

We had an absolutely fantastic day today!!!! What a blessing!!!!

It is odd to have a great day of sales on a Monday. I'm not sure we've ever had such a great Monday.

My daughter picked up four more sashes from across the street. While it is hard to see this stunning example of a late Arts & Crafts home be denuded of it's beautiful windows, I'm glad that she was able to pick up a few more cool sashes.

Flea markets and garage sales are NOT the same thing.

My 4th booth, the one that wasn't doing well, was paid up until Monday, but I got an urge to pull it this morning, so I drove out there and did it.

I'm definitely starting to see the odd trend as well! Lol I brought in a ton if stuff over the weekend and had very little sales... But tomorrow was an incredible day! Go figure on a Thursday lol

Clovis, that's exactly the kind of offers we are seeing, $3 for a $30 shovel! I am a people watcher, so am always watching and listening to other booths, and I am surprised how many people don't make much more than they pay for their booth. I mean, it's hard to sit at an outdoor flea market in the Fla summer! Yesterday was not great, but at least we cleared $100 for the day. The only people who seem to be making good money are the vegetable sellers, food sellers and puppy sellers. I did manage to flip some coupon purchases, I had gotten barbeque sauce really cheap and sold them for triple what I paid...and sold out

I do feel fortunate that we have online sales to fall back on, so many other vendors don't do that for whatever reason. So we have pulled all of our PS3 and Xbox 360 games from the flea market where they can't sell for $3 and put them online, where they sell easily. And of course, now people ask where they are....ummm, you should have bought some at ANY time during the last year and we would bother hauling them back out for you, but you didn't, so we will sell them where they will actually be bought.

Summer is normally slow locally for us, so we're not 100% surprised, but bucking that trend would be nice lol!

I'm glad to see some of ya'll are having good days, it is a nice reward for all the work everyone does!

ETA: A friend of ours got so tired of the lowball offers, he made a sign that said "All reasonable offers will be considered, unreasonable offers will be treated as the joke they must be and laughed at accordingly"!

Shannsmom,

Sitting in the heat in an Indiana summer is too much for me...I can't imagine the Florida heat and humidity!

That sign about offers is too funny!

One thing that I like about our indoor flea market is that once you price something, the price stands. The cashiers cannot make any deals, reduce prices, etc. Of course, this is a double edged sword. Many people like to negotiate, or make deals on stuff. Since we aren't there to negotiate on prices, it turns into a "take it or leave it" scenario. I'm sure that we've lost tons of sales over the years because someone was willing to pay $8 for something, but not $10.

Oh, BTW, great job on the BBQ sauce!

Clovis, we are all about comfort lol! We take tarps to try to stop even the smallest ray of sun from hitting us, and have at least 3 fans. We are currently playing with the idea of fans blowing out on the customers...maybe if they linger over our 750 dvd display, they will see something they have to have? Or, it might make non buyers block the table up from peole who might buy?

I had wondered about the ability to negotiate at antique malls. We have only shopped at one, and it was going out of business, so the prices were 50% of the things that were left, quite reasonable! It was funny, we were buying an eclectic assortment of things to resell, and the mall owner was trying to talk us into buying the mall! We weren't planning on spending quite that much that day!

At our antique markets I know you can take the item up front and ask they call the dealer or sometimes the dealer has given the desk permission to knock 10% off if asked

__________________
I always wondered why somebody didn't do something, then I realized I am somebody

Here some will call the owner and ask others won't.

I prefer the ones who call myself though that group is father away, they are monstrously huge and way more fun to go digging in!

The one downtown though is very nice, just wish it didn't have so much new stuff and more old stuff, kwim?

__________________
2Ti 1:7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
Luceo non uro

That's how ours works or you can request they call for any items above a certain dollar amount :-)

As a general rule, the antique malls will call if they feel as if the buyer's offer is reasonable.

Typically, the FM will not call, but they do make exceptions, especially if the offer is reasonable, and the vendor is open to being called. I am surprised to learn that many vendors don't want to be bothered by a phone call, and have insisted that the FM never call them. FWIW, the FM will not call unless the price is $50 or $100.

I really, really like one of the AMs here. They are great about filtering out silly offers, and seem to negotiate for the better, on our behalf. One day, I had a glass top cigar display box marked $135. The buyer offered $85, which I accepted when they called, but negotiated $95 with the buyer after we hung up.

For those wanting to get into the indoor flea market business and antique mall selling, it important to remember to:

1. Build relationships with the management, when applicable.
2. Never lose your cool with those who work there.
3. Have respect for those employed at the IFM or AM

One huge mistake that I often see vendors make is loosing their temper or being outright disrespectful when dealing with mall owners, managers or employees.

I've seen mall management ask vendors to move out, or end the rental contract immediately. Once, I witnessed an outraged vendor really "let them have it", and the minute that he left, they ended his rental contract, and moved every last item that he had in a booth into a back room. The manager instructed the cashiers not to ring any more items for that vendor, on the chance that an item or two still might be lingering somewhere in the mall.

I've never understood why some vendors act like they own a mall, and I've never understood why so many vendors believe that they have to yell and make a big scene to get their point across.

Being kind, polite and respectful, all of the time, will pay off in spades. When there is a problem, those who work there will be on your side, and they will tend to work in your favor.