Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Canton Marketplace

I have a store on Etsy, Essential Adornment. I don't spend a lot of time on it, so I haven't had a lot of sales. Recently we started an Etsy team made up of people in the northeast region of Texas. This is morphing into Netsy art/craft guild. I'm really excited because we've opened a booth at the Canton Marketplace in Canton Texas.


Martha, of Menagerie Studio, and I will be anchoring the booth and every month during First Monday we will share the booth with two other members. Last weekend (April First Monday) was our first weekend.


Here's the booth just after we put a fresh coat of paint, with some displays that will be living at the booth.

Canton booth before


Here's a couple of shots of the booth in action. The right side of the photos was cut off in blogger so click on them to see the full shot. We still have some decorating to do and things to tweak. We need to get a sign. The layout may well change from month to month as our stock changes with different members coming in.

Canton booth #1

Canton booth #2


We also are taking items on consignment, three or four or so from various members. April had items from Billye of Silvermoon Studio and Katie of KatherineKouture. Here's some detail shots showing how things were displayed.

Canton booth detail #2

Front of the booth. l to r: wire mannequin with pink resin necklace by Billye, rose necklace by Menagerie Studio; large mannequin: yellow necklace by KatherineKouture, cross necklace by Menagerie Studio; tall wire mannequin: necklace by me; front: large cross by Menagerie Studio.

Canton booth detail #5

l to r: necklace by me (No Stone Unstrung), Treasure Box earrings by me, necklace by Silvermoon Studio, charms (in tray) by Martha of Menagerie Studio.

Canton booth detail #4

Charms by Menagerie Studio and earrings and necklace by KatherineKouture.

Canton booth detail #1

l to r: pink necklace by Silvermoon Studio with pendant by Menagerie Studio, bracelets by KatherineKouture, earrings and large coral necklace by me, necklace by KatherineKouture.

We didn't have a lot of sales in April, but we made money. Things should pick up, especially since the Canton Marketplace is improving their signage and a winery is moving into the building in June.

For those who don't know, Canton Texas is like one big market every first Monday weekend of the month. It started with antiques, and now you can get pretty much anything you want. The Canton Market Place is just one of the many, many buildings in operation, and there are also people who set up in outdoor tents and canopies. Unlike the rest of Canton, our building is air conditioned and open until 8 pm. This should be a real advantage come summer and in rainy weather.

2 comments:

Ruth Trowbridge said...

Very nice - it is always difficult to make displays look multidimensional and this you did beautifully - i looked at the all pictures at flicker as i am always looking for new ways to display - love the sewing forms! looking at the pictures what stands out as detracting from the ambiance you are presenting is all the white cloths hanging from the tables, just my two cents but maybe a purple or pink or green would be nice. Your displays are exceptional hope you have a good season. Peace for all

Leslie Todd said...

Thanks, Ruralrose. We are adding more lights with daylight bulbs. The mercury vapor lights in the building make the colors look faded.