Well, it can't all be the fault of the weather - Saturday was really nice!
The Suncoast Arts Festival north of Tampa in Wesley Chapel on Jan 19-20 turned out to be a real dud for me.
First the Positives: The Sponsor is a non-profit and all proceeds go to support arts education. Lots of nice young volunteers. Drive up setup (see the negative column too). The show is in a fairly new 'Leisure Center' with a nice selection of stores - I was setup in front of J Jill and Williams and Sonoma. Lots of parking for customers, and pretty good turnout, especially on Saturday when the weather is nice. Free Electricity. Lots of friendly people who seemed to like my flameworked jewelry. Nice Pancake breakfast on Sunday. Really generous awards. Sounds great, doesn't it?
Now the negatives: virtually no sales. this was by far the worst show I have ever had for sales. though there were many of my typical customer demographic that came thru on Saturday, everyone was extremely price sensitive, and had no intention of buying anything no matter how much they admired it. All the nice stores were having sales. I was not the only one having this problem either.
Setup was easy EXCEPT for the fact it did not start until 10:30 pm. Some cars were still on the street, but the organizers were adept at moving people around so they could setup. Saturday weather was nice, but it rained overnight and Sunday was COLD and extremely WINDY. Almost no one came. I was worried for my tent and my glass work. A guy down at the other end lost his entire inventory of ceramics. As soon as the awards were awarded (I did not get one, unfortunately!) For the first time ever, I decided to pack it in early and save my glass from destruction. by that time the temperature had dropped to 50 and the wind was still at 15-25 mph. Yikes. I was not the only one. we were not able to drive in till 6:30, so we took down and dragged our stuff out to the parking lot.
Conclusions:
1. the Wiregrass Center was off 75 halfway between the Villages and Tampa, a lot of commercial space in an area without a lot of residential nearby (yet).
2. There was no beach nearby and not a lot of tourists.
3. Northern Florida can be damn cold in January
4. Christmas credit card bills had probably just arrived in mailboxes, and people who had any extra money weren't going to spend it on more stuff that wasnt on sale.
Note to self: No more January shows!
Comments
I bought a nice warm sweater at JJill (on sale). I just think this area does not have many tourists, who are notoriously more likely to make purchases than retirees or low income wage earners. the government shutdown might have made people feel uncertain and less likely to spend money. Last year's Florida shows were 1/3 down from previous years.
Excellent info, Leslie. Thank you. I live in Michigan and shows are non-existent in the north from a few indoor ones in early December, so basically from mid-October until May, so several times we made the trek to Florida in January for the possible cash flow. It was only after a couple of those trips that I convinced my husband that the few dollars earned in no way covered the overhead. Still to be found: January income!
But to your other points, that is certainly a nice shopping center and good demographics. Heck, I would have loved to shop at J Jill and Williams-Sonoma myself. Were you tempted?
and the fact there was not a beach should have been putting shoppers in your booth.
Did you consider that the government shutdown might also have affected sales? Just wondering.