Well, this is it! This is what I worked all summer for. Here is my booth at Stitches. I was so pleased with the comments from customers and vendors that they liked my booth. Not bad for a first time, do it yourself on the cheap venture. I'm especially proud of my logo and banner. I designed it myself with the help of my knitting buddy Melissa.
This mammoth undertaking could not have been tackled without the help of my knitting buddies. Special thanks go to:
Melissa - for help with the logo and packing kits in the 11th hour.
Lauren - for her savy retail merchandising advice -especially her suggestion to use glass block to create shelves and risers.
Karen - for her enthusiasm for my product and support with her pocketbook by being my first Stitches customer.
Kathy - whose appearance on the other side of the booth on Saturday was a welcome surprise
Lynn - for her willingness to listen to me going on and on about this venture on our morning walks.
and most importantly,
Carolynn- who volunteered her van and came to Chicago with me as my unpaid employee. An entire post shall be devoted to this wonderful lady, but I have to talk her into letting me take her picture first.
I was also helped considerably by new friends - my vendor neigbors at Mind Your Knitting.
From what I understand, the attendance at Stitches was down almost 40%. Was it poor promotion? Is knitting that much on the decline? Or is it that the Rosemont convention center is cavernous, dirty, and ugly with far too much walking required for elderly or out of shape knitters? Still, I had very good sales and I have made contacts with several guilds and yarn shops to do presentations and sales.
I'll write more later....
1 comment:
I'm sorry that I missed your booth when I was there on Saturday - your setup looks great. Glad to hear that you had a great time with it all.
I hadn't heard that attendance was down - the marketplace seemed just as crowded on Saturday afternoon as it did last year when I went for my first time. :)
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