Warm and Cozy Bazaar Report

I just returned from the Warm and Cozy Bazaar in Hartland.  It was a huge show spread throughout the old High School building.   I had plenty of space in my location as there was a ramp to my left keeping that area clear.  It allowed me to set up my high-end items that I don't always have room to display.  These three pictures show my set up which seems to be working well.  I do believe I need to invest in some lighting.  Jewelry looks it's best when you can clearly see the shine and color.

This customer is admiring one of my Coca Cola pendants.  I had set it up as raffle for joining my mailing list.  However, no one signed-up to win, so by mid-show I removed the sign.  Either I didn't promote it hard enough, or no one wanted to spend the time filling out the ticket.  Three people did sign up for my mailing list and I look forward to seeing them again in the future.  Several people picked up business cards and suggested items they'd like to see at future shows or on my website.


My set up expenses were less for this show as I already had the displays and I was able to borrow tables from my friend Lisa.  My only expenses were the entry fee, table covers, and my annual fee to offer credit card payment as an option (all but the entry fee of course, is reusable).  Although the bottle cap tree were new items I made for the show, I was able to use existing materials to make them.  I sold enough to cover these costs and as this was only my second show, I count that as a success.  I believe I received about 1/3rd of the overall traffic that visited the show.  We were down a side corridor and, while not a bad location, was also not ideal.  It's uncertain if I would have done better in another location.  Those that did visit my booth, were very complimentary, with one person saying "I know high quality when I see it," and another saying "you have by far the best jewelry here".   It always a great experience to receive feedback that positive.

A big thank-you is owed to my mother-in-law, Judy (on the left) for, not only spending these 12 hours with me at the show, but also listening to all my shop talk these past few weeks.  In the middle is my daughter Heidi, who brought us lunch and also has been very patient with mom's obsession this holiday season.  And last is me adding last minute extender chains to my cords (I probably should be using the readers on my head!).