I saw some other girls on Instagram saying that March has been their worst month so far. For me, it has been our best month! Same for Earthy! lol I can't complain.

Are you going to do the antique show in Monroe this month?

I'm debating but a little unsure. $100 for a 10x10 for 3 days. I just don't know what crowd turn out will be like

March has FELT like a horrible month for sales, but when looking at the numbers, it was actually pretty good, weirdly enough. Online sales are wishy washy for us, Amazon has been dead, but Ebay has been good. I've just been happy with any sales we get :)

I think part of why it has felt so slow is, there's been nothing for us to buy, so there's not the constant moving of things and money. But yard sale/rummage sale season is fixing to kick up, so we are ready! We did go to 1 big twice a year sale we usually find great things at (we even sold there for a couple of years) last weekend. We were all excited, happy to go....and 1/2 the spaces were empty! The people that were there, were charging more than new retail for used merchandise! We walked the whole thing in 20 minutes, less time than it took to drive there, and 1/2 of that time was spent talking to vendor friends we hadn't seen in a while. Oh well, we'll keep looking for more, now that the weather's warm.

That's a really good price. But I'm not sure. I got a flier about it on Saturday when we picked up our check. But I honestly haven't even looked at it yet. It's hard for me to commit to something for 3 days, just sitting there. LOL I know I could make some money, but if I don't I will be kicking myself in the butt wasting the time. lol I'm hoping the crowds the festival will bring will flood our mall and help sells there!

My husband and I are going to looking at some more malls this weekend. He's really wanting to open another booth at a different mall. So we shall see how this goes.

We had a great weekend getting stuff done and we scored at an auction!

Hope you all had a great Easter!

Yesterday, I picked up a bunch of crafting materials (elastic, ribbon, etc.) at an estate sale - things I don't use - and I packaged them in Baggies and put them in one of my booths earlier this afternoon.

We'll see what happens with that!

I would think that would do well.

Sarah have you been in Ian Henderson's antique mall lately? My husband and I went in yesterday to scope it out for a possible 2nd booth. I was shocked at the prices and how everything was just kind of thrown in their booths. There wasn't much painted furniture in there and the ones that were in there were CRAZY expensive and the quality was horrible. So I think it would be a good market but I'm just so turned off by the mall and the other dealers. Not to mention all of the staff is just high school kids. They rarely promote on FB (which is big for me). I honestly think the reason why they get so much traffic is bc it's right there off the main road.

We decided yesterday it def wasn't the place for us.

I havent been in since around Christmas but I did notice the younger kids running around the place. They are super nice and friendly though.

I met someone at an auction house I frequent that mentioned how they noticed Ians was going downhill and filling up with stuffy junky booths.
I think what has happened is hes trying to fill ALL that space, I mean its what, 100,000sqft..
Trying to fill all that with fine merchandise is going to be next to impossible.
He seems to be pretty well known in the antique business though.

Hes been in newspapers, on the news, and they have filmed some TV shows on the property. He does advertise around Monroe but his social media face is lacking.

When I first moved here was was where Davis St Antiques is, then moved to where Vintage Revival is, then to where he is now.
I dont like that space as much as the other two though. It doesnt feel as "cozy" and welcoming.


The Cotton Depot was suggested to me by the same person at the auction house. He said they have a pretty good repeat customer base. That place is a little on the high side and overwhelms me slightly when I walk in though..
lol


Didnt a new store open up down from Hodge Podge?

Yesterday, I went to the tail end of a library book sale and filled the trunk of my car for $10. :clap: I would have gotten more, but the sale was shutting down. Haven't made it to any of my booths yet, but I'll be doing plenty of swapping out in the days to come, and I've listed some items on my Amazon account. Haven't sold any of those yet, but I have sold two of the books I got from my friend a few weeks ago, and have made back the $20 I paid her for them.

I've noticed the thrift stores have started jacking their furniture prices up around here.

$80 for dressers, $70 for a rocking chair, $240 for a China cabinet.

Don't get me wrong, it's nice stuff, but there lanes very little profit to be made after having to transporting it, fixing it up/painting it, and time spent.

Man. Garage sales haven't really kicked up yet. Rain, rain, rain

I just went and looked at a couple booths at vintage revivals.

They have a 64sqft and 2 40sqft.

I am really thinking about the 64.
It's not in my most favorite location but it's in an area I think it could stand out if I did it up right..

I'm looking over there welcome packet
Once the SO gets home I'm going to discuss it with him.

Will you let them know I referred you? Pweaseeeeeeeeeee! Michelle is a dear. And so is the younger girl Courtney.

Where is the booth located? I just talked to Michelle this morning and told her we were wanting a bigger booth. So we are waiting to see if anything will open up. There is one on the window aisle we have our eye on. LOL

Yea the 40 sq ft ones are the baby booths I was telling you about. They are so adorable! I love them. I think they could be so cute if done right.

We had a good bit of larger items sell this week so I have to get in there tomorrow morning and put some new stuff in there! Hopefully I can finish up the pieces I'm working on tonight!

And yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Furniture prices have skyrocketed but what people are paying for finished items has lowered. Go FIGURE. LOL We have lots of picker friends that let us shop their stash. LOL And they give us good deals. I rarely buy anything at thrift stores when it comes to furniture.

I would have LOVED to go to that. I love reading!

I reserved my booth :bouncy:

Its 64sqft.
Im going to drop off my deposit this evening or tomorrow.
They are going to have to finish off the bottom half and Im going to have to paint the top half but they said by May 1st I should be ready to move in.

Its a few isles back and a couple booths down from a corner.
Its pretty close to the baby booths. I looked at those but they were pretty small for what I thinkI want to do so I just decided to get the bigger one.

Yea he's well known. But I've also heard a lot of "negative" things about him. I used to go to his store when it was in the Davis St. location as well! I loved that building. And I loved his dad that used to run the counter! Such a sweet man. I have nothing against him personally. He has always been really nice to me and my husband.

I thought some of the booths downstairs were awesome. But the majority were just too full and full of junk. The price for booths was cheap though. I think he's trying hard to be the biggest mall, like you said. But we'll see.

And I know there is one next to Hodge Podge called Markets of Monroe which is Hodge Podge's sister store. And sadly I've never been in the Cotton Depot. LOL Their picture on FB are beautiful though. Nicely staged booths. I never knew the Cotton Depot was down there until this past December when we were going to a meeting over in the Engine Room. LOL

Whoooo hoooooo! I wonder if you are close to me then? We are right on a corner, in the back close to the entrances of Architectural Alley. The baby booths are close to us! We have to paint our trim. They said it all had to be done before the Grand Opening!

Here's my little corner.
Im not crazy about the pole.. it kind of messes up what I was going to do with some pictures..
I do hope they finish off the side with the doors. The brackets on the floor In not crazy about but oh well.. I'm just not sure what I am and am not allowed to ask about

Im still excited!

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...pskyr1sbru.jpg
http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/k...ps0ryotimb.jpg

They are great about booth build outs. So ask away. Let Michelle know what you don't like about it and I'm sure she will fix it!

Does anyone have any ideas on how to "hide" things?

I'm going to be bringing in some China. Right now its in two boxes. I'm only going to have room to display only a few pieces (80+ total). I'm not sure where to tuck the other pieces..

I have no idea. I've never done that. Maybe walk around the mall and see how other people display their china?

And I saw your booth yesterday! I think it's in a good location. We might be moving AGAIN. lol Actually to the row right behind you. Right there on the corner. We should know soon if the guy is leaving or not. He barely has anything in there...just a couple of things. Michelle is trying to get him into a smaller booth.

How is everyone doing for the month of April? Every month our sales are climbing! This month has been AWESOME for us. When we moved to the back of the mall in our new booth we were a little worried about traffic. But we seem to be doing just fine. And thankfully the influx of painted furniture booths haven't really hurt our sales. So we will just keep trucking along.

We are doing so well my husband and I have started really discussing me leaving my full time job. Which is quite scary for me since I've been here for 10 years. But I think with me not working I could def almost double what we are making now off furniture with me doing it full time. So we will see. I'm excited!

I hope you are all doing ok. It's been super quiet in here lately!

I'm about to bring in some painted furniture lol

Sorry! Most of it was given to me after sitting 20 years in a basement so it was pretty rough and needed something.
But i think I'm bringing in a few things I haven't seen in there either at all or lately, but then again i want in the too much before hand.

I'm excited I'm starting up when they are throwing their grand opening.

I think there is painted furniture in almost every booth now. lmao We were even told by a dealer that occupied our previous booth that we inspired him to start doing furniture. lol I don't mind it. I just don't want customers to get tired of seeing nothing but painted furniture in the mall. We have tried to bring in more vintage items as far as smalls as well, like old linens and things to mix it up a little. And to have items in all price points. It seems to be working.

Did you talk to Michelle about building out your booth? Or are you just going to leave it?

She said it should be done and I can move in on the first but....

I'm starting to worry maybe they've forgotten?
I don't want to be a bother by calling and asking.

I went in there the other day to do color samples and no one could answer any of my questions and said Michelle was going to have to call me back but that was 4-5 days ago :shrug:


Im excited to paint and move in asap

Yea Michelle does all the new dealer stuff. The other ladies are nice, but they don't handle any of that. I would call Michelle or even FB message her. If I need to get a hold of her I always message her on FB. lol

Garage sale season is firing up, and I've cleaned up at a couple of end-of-sales - and gotten some surprisingly good stuff, too. :dance:

Today, I was at an estate sale and saw some vintage children's clothing, advertised as "doll clothes", for $5 for the lot. Most of it was in excellent condition, and several items were handmade. I'm going to wash and dry them in hot water, and put the items that survive this treatment in the booth I deem best for it and see what happens with those items too.

As for my craft items, I've sold some of them so I'm happy about that.

There were a TON of sales around here yesterday but after buying everything I need to get my booth running Im about on E lol

I knew start up was going to be expensive but. . Yikes!

I washed the kids' clothing in hot water and dried it on high, and it looks 10 times better than it did when I brought it home. No damage at all!

:rock:

That is awesome Thesdays!!

And when are you moving in Sarah? Did you go to the dealer meeting last Thursday?

My DH just went to pick up our check for April! Biggest check to date! The manager at the mall also showed DH a booth she thinks would be great for us as a second booth. It is only 40 sq ft but would be great for overflow for us. And I have been itching to do something a little different. So I may let my imagination go wild for that space!

I had no idea about the dealer meeting.
I over heard her talking to a couple dealers about the 10% off mall wide for the grand opening.. They say its not mandatory but everyone, with the exception of a couple people, are complying.

Ive been painting. I spent 6 hours today and about 3 a couple days ago and Im still not done.
That bead board is hard to paint with all the grooves.

Im hoping to get some things in this weekend.
My schedule this week has been crazy with school ending..

Well dang I would have mentioned. But yes they are requesting 10% off storewide. But the older dealers were upset about it. But those are the same people that aren't moving anything. I don't get the big deal. I love doing sales! I love having items move!

haha, well I figured about the 10% off with the advertising Ive seen.
I asked her when I was doing that paper work about mandatory sales and she said they dont do them. I figured a grand opening is an exception and probably around Christmas they might encourage sales..

One of the businesses where I have a booth here in town is consolidating from 2 buildings to 1, and as a result, I may have more shelf space but will still pay the same rent. If it's "enough more", I may shut down the booth that's 40 miles away.

40 miles?! Goodness!


I had a couple stop by the booth yesterday while I was cleaning up. They say it's fun but don't ever make a profit and kind of acted like that was everyone in the business.
It kind of rained on my parade a little... lol
But I'm putting my all into this so hopefully I'll see some positive results.
:)

I was at the counter later getting tags when another couple said 'we missed you at the auction the other night! '

I told them I've been dumping all my money and time into prepping my booth.
He went on to say I didn't miss much because "them high rolling ladies were in there running the prices up"

I knew exactly who he was talking about.
Ugh. I don't like that this couple found this auction house. They have bottomless wallets.
I guess it's good for the auction house but I'm wondering if it's going to start chasing other customers off.

When I start back going I know I'm not going to waste 4-5 hours of my Friday night to come home with little to no money to be made. :umno:
I'll just have to find another place.
...which stinks because I really like the people who run it and their regular customer base.

Do not get discouraged! I'm not sure who said that to you but there are a good bit of older couples with booths in our mall. They don't make profits because they don't work their booth. They aren't selling what customers are looking for. I am not a pro...but as far as that mall goes I think I have it pretty down.

Have you been to the Cherry Hill auction yet? I went this past Saturday and it sucked! They had so much awesome furniture but there were some dealers down from Atlanta and the prices were going at retail what I could sell it for. I was kind of upset that I drove the hour out there for the crap I got. But that is the nature of the beast. You never know.

IME, the ones who make the $ are the ones renting the booth to you. They already know what to look for - what will bring more. Some things may bring less @ auction - but the thing you didn't know you had, may well make up for it.

Most people who start doing this give it up because they do indeed expect to make a living at it.

Doesn't usually work that way.

:stars:

I'm still working to get it together!
Sunday we took most of my bigger things in and semi set up. I forgot my hangers so everything is pretty much leaned against the wall :bash:

Oh my goodness! lol
Who would have thought it would take SO long to set a booth up! lol