Market Wrap

So, last Saturday was my first ever market stall for Joie de Tea. Overall, I am pretty happy with the results - I didn't turn a profit but I nearly did; and I learnt a lot as well, in the best way - by experience. The Malvern Town Hall was a beautiful venue too; all indoors and the ceiling of the main hall looked like it was designed by Wedgwood - stunning in blue and white and gold.

Here's some photos, kindly taken by my husband who did a beautiful job of looking after Pippin all day!

 

So, what did I learn?

c\_/ that the lead-up to a market is a lot of work;

c\_/ that a lot of people who go to markets are - surprise - like me, and prefer just to browse and/or are shy about talking to stallholders;

c\_/ that I need to merchandise my stall better - more height, more variety, more 'clutter' to make it look good (but I've got some great ideas for next time, involving things like stacks of books and that kind of thing, product information, signage and brochures);

c\_/ that I need to work on my patter with the customers... got to get over that shyness! and

c\_/ that it is really, really nice to have an almost-completely baby-free day once in a while! My goodness, how different it was to my usual daily routine! 

So many thanks to the friends who stopped by to keep me company and to all the lovely customers that I had. All in all I'm very pleased with the whole experience and I think I will apply for another stall at the Modish Market - perhaps not the June one, that might be a bit rushed to get all the things organised that I would like to - but for August. I'll keep you posted!

Market prep a-go-go!

In case you were wondering about the blog silence over the last week or so, it's because I have been more or less frantically preparing for the Modish Creators Market at the Malvern Town Hall which is being held THIS SATURDAY, 8 May. My first market stall for Joie de Tea and I am both excited and nervous.

However, thanks to some wonderful help from the best mum ever, who cut ribbons and tied labels onto dozens of bags of tea for me last Friday (and maintained it was fun! don't you love her!) I am just about organised.

Here is a sneak preview of my table layout which Mum and I trialled on Friday...

Check out the Modish Creators Market blog for lots of great info about the stallholders... including my interview... it's going to be a great day and if you're in Melbourne I'd love to see you there!