Eckerstrom's Alameda Mother's Day Show

[caricatureartist]

Turned out out be decent show this year (May 7th & 8th). However, I last did it back in 2009 and I was down about 20% this year. Had pretty good crowds with Sunday being the busiest. Lots of the same craft vendors I see month after month, year after year at norCal shows. Lots of extra booth space open this year. One of the few shows I can count on to be decent every year.

[davejs]

May 9, 2011 10:41:32 GMT -5 caricatureartist said:

Turned out out be decent show this year (May 7th & 8th). However, I last did it back in 2009 and I was down about 20% this year. Had pretty good crowds with Sunday being the busiest. Lots of the same craft vendors I see month after month, year after year at norCal shows. Lots of extra booth space open this year. One of the few shows I can count on to be decent every year.

Hi Nito. Thanks a lot for all your input. Glad to hear you did somewhat okay there. How do you think the other vendors made out? Did they allow buy/sell in the show? I was in Ceres this past weekend and I'll tell about it later. It was okay. Saturday was pretty decent and Sunday was, well.... ho hum

[caricatureartist]

Hi Dave. I did not hear how any other vendors made out. I was near the jumpers and petting zoo, with my back facing the street that was lined with craft vendors. I was right across from a fellow with a small table & umbrella selling those marshmallow shooter guns, and let me tell you, he did really well! He was selling them for $7 each and the people were buying them up all day long both days. The petting zoo and jumpers did really well and face painter, too. Seems like people are often times looking for an "experience" to pay for, rather than to take something home. Why that is, I don't know.

[davejs]

May 11, 2011 9:54:10 GMT -5 caricatureartist said:

Hi Dave. I did not hear how any other vendors made out. I was near the jumpers and petting zoo, with my back facing the street that was lined with craft vendors. I was right across from a fellow with a small table & umbrella selling those marshmallow shooter guns, and let me tell you, he did really well! He was selling them for $7 each and the people were buying them up all day long both days. The petting zoo and jumpers did really well and face painter, too. Seems like people are often times looking for an "experience" to pay for, rather than to take something home. Why that is, I don't know.

There was a guy selling the shooters in Ceres also. I saw quite a few go walking by me. I think that you are so right about the 'experience' part. Problem with a business like yours is that you can only do so many per hour. It takes time for each drawing. On Saturday, I pretty much had a continuous flow of buyers, but my sales are nowhere near what we were making 5-6-10-15 years ago. I am mostly $5-8-10'ing my way along. I have been satisfied with my sales for the past two shows, which I hope is an indication of what is to come. I am being more selective with my shows now. I've only done 4 shows so far this year. Normally by this time, we've done 8-12 events every year.

[traveler]

Good to hear that there are a few decent shows out there for 2011. Mine start this year in SD in about 12 days and a fw new ones including a very large Corvvette show in Il. I just left the warm and sunny So Cal to drive to ND. Still rainy and cold up here.
It has been my experience in the shows that we did in 2010, that the majority of our sales were between the 3-5-10 dollar range. AT the 5ish range, they would spend the "5" for a gift, or a impulse buy, but if it were above the 10 range- up to the 25 range, it had to REALLY be something that THEY wanted for THEMSELVES. We "nickled and dimed" ourselves to death, but managed to do not too bad for most of the shows. They tended to go for the "specials", like $3.00 or 2/5.00. They'd buy 2. Tough crowds, and I heard from others that their sales were down, but we'll determine what we do on our round #2's.