Jump to content
I Forge Iron

got a booth at a trade mall


Recommended Posts

I got a booth at the "HARRISONVILLE TRADE FAIR MALL" . its a small end cap 3 foot buy 9 foot . got it for 35.00 a month plus 10% of sales that pay my sales tax, i can make it any way i need , peg board ect. , what do you think would sale ? hooks , dinner bells , small shepherd hooks ? i need some ideas of easy stuff to make that will sale good, and any other insite that you guys might have...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

From my experience, you want a broad cross section. A lot of less expensive stuff, a few examples of your more pricey stuff. Stuff below $30 will sell faster. Letter openers, hanging hooks, ornaments and such. Usually a person wanting something really speacial (ie lots of $'s) will contact you to have it made.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i made up some key holders with 4 small hooks and a pice of pallet wood , used rr spikes and did a twist and bent them 90 to make coat hooks and mounted 4 of them to some pallet wood , made some bigger leaf hooks , some small fun scorpion sculpture's , some S hooks of various sizes , hot dog pokers ,steak turners ....

also looking at doing demos on sundays outside to get people to stop in....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Display some high end work and that will get them into your area and looking. Have a good supply of low end items on hand and they will buy them.

High end. Fireplace sets, Pokers, shovels, brooms. Door knockers. Small pot racks. Hooks for tha pot racks. Coat racks for the wall or back of a standard door. Ornate Plant hangers large, med, small. These sell well in the spring. Rail Spike knives (letter openers) desk art. Hinge sets are great for a display. Small hand garden tools, sets or individual pieces.

Low end. Leaf hook sets. S hooks in various lengths. Steak Turners. Key rings. Crosses. Simple style stand off the wall plant hangers . Bottle openers (big sellers) . Drawer pulls (simple or ornate).

Vertical displays are better than lying items out on a table. 4 x 4 panels covered with indoor outdoor in a neutral color. The panels can interlock for stability (hinges) and the break down and set up relatively quickly. If you want fancy, picture frame the panels with oak triim. Great for fireplace equipment display and door hardware. Make sure to clean up the ironwork for the show, clean sells. Have a supply of screws on hand to go with anything that is mounted. have your cards on hand for anyone interested in getting commision estimates, i.e. make contacts. Keep it simple clean and squared away. Unlike most of our shop, folks at summer fairs are attracted to a certain sense of order. Good luck.

Peter

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

i have done this at a local antique mall, talk to the owners about getting a glass display case for it, the smaller stuff WILL get stolen.

and as said before, cross section it, you want your higher priced goods on one end, and lower priced goods on the other. if you can make them, i suggest shepards hooks to go in there, i sell those, topiaries and bottle trees for 35 a piece in my section i have. and then i have little cast irons knick nacks in display cases.

GET A LOCKABLE DISPLAY CASE FOR SMALLER THINGS!! IF YOU DONT, YOUR MERCHANDISE WILL GET STOLEN!! i cannot stress this enough. it is very aggravating to have somthing that costs $50+ get stolen!

i know that its been said before that stuff under 30 dollars sells faster, yes it does sell very quickly, but it doesnt show off. have some stuff for 10dollars, then have some stuff that costs 75 dollars. and make sure that you show off your best work, it doesnt have to be for sale, but it shows them what you can do, then leave some business cards at the front desk or in a business card holder youve made, the orders that you recieve from these people usually make more than the rest.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One thing I have found about using "found stuff" such as pallet wood for example; Charge as if its one of a kind, as it may be. If a customer wants something "just like that guy bought", you want to be able to reproduce it. Can you always get old pallet wood in the condition of the first piece? Not picking on you for using pallet wood. Just an example. Its a great medium but may not always be available. So many companies that produce pallets are going to renewable materials such as plastics etc. New wood pallets aren't always as desirable as old wood and there is really no easy way to age wood other than, well, age. Again, not picking on pallet wood. Just something to think about when deciding whether you want to make one-offs or lots of easy to make things that you can get unlimited materials for....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...