Notes from today’s market, organized by Lissa Dysart, aka “The Tomato Lady” — thanks, Lissa!
- multiple people complimented my purple hair
- one person noted that it nicely matched my sweater (yes, I did that on purpose)
- it was a big space with lots of vendors and for the first three hours (out of four), it was pretty busy most of the time; I was talking to people / selling almost constantly
- this was my best market selling day so far (out of a few years of doing random pop-up local markets — I haven’t tried applying to / driving to the bigger markets), with about $600 in sales in 4 hours (note, that’s gross sales, not profit)
- best-selling items this time were: cookbooks, curry powder, pressed flower resin bookmarks, greeting cards (three varieties: hand-stamped, printed with my paperwhites, with pressed flowers), pressed flower wood ornaments, tea towels
- someone told me how much she’d loved Perennial (which she’d bought previously), particularly the poetry — that was very nice! And then she told her friend that she’d loan it to her, and then she bought a copy of The Stars Change.
- things I sold 1-3 of: polymer clay holiday earrings, pressed flower candles, confection boxes, The Stars Change, “Elephant March” toddler apron
- various local friends stopped by to say hi and chat, which was nice!
- things that caught people’s attention and got compliments, but didn’t sell this time: little wax seals, resin notebooks, resin coasters
- various people told me they knew me from Facebook, either one of the local mom groups or the garden club — one person seemed quite startled by my appearance, and I’m now really wondering what she was picturing in her head before that — wish I’d asked her!
- people really appreciated that some of the botanical items featured Illinois native flowers; I’ve been wanting to do more of that, so it’s nice to know people like it
- people asked me how I do so many things, and I honestly am starting to find it very difficult to answer that question — I don’t know??? (Sometimes they’re asking how I have the energy, sometimes they’re asking how there’s so much variety, and I’m not sure how to answer either one, really.)
- one of the other vendors was selling some very delicious sourdough tomato focaccia — they were sold out when I went back for seconds, alas!
- I was WIPED OUT when I got home at 3. Packing up, loading in, selling actively for four hours, packing up, loading out, is a lot of physical labor.
- I lay on the couch with Kavi for two hours watching re-runs of Modern Family, made Kevin order Thai food from White Crane, stuffed masses of it into my mouth when it arrived, was still tired at 5 but also bored with TV, so dragged myself up to bed to read (re-reading Martha Wells’s Raksura series currently), but I was too cold once I wasn’t snuggling with Kavi anymore, so I gave up and asked Kevin to run me a hot bath, and then I took a bath, and now I’m finally warm
- the plan is to read for a little bit longer, and hopefully get the energy to do some crafting — I’m low on stock on various items and would like to do one more push to make things for tomorrow’s market and for the Berwyn shop this coming week of last-minute holiday shopping. But if I don’t do it tonight, that’s also okay. There’s plenty of stuff to sell.
- tomorrow I’ll be at Stern Glass Works from noon – 4!
- Sprout is closed on Monday, but I’ll be dropping off cookbooks (and possibly curry powder) at Carnivore Oak Park on Monday morning, and then dropping off the rest of the stock at Sprout on Tuesday.
- I’m low on stock for Feast / Vegan paperbacks, I’m afraid — there are a few copies at both locations, but they will likely sell out, and while I’ve ordered more, they probably won’t arrive before I leave town on Wednesday, alas.
- I’m TIRED. Did I say that? Back to reading in bed now…pop-up markets are fun, but draining!