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Topic: Garden Show and Sale

(11 posts)

Started 1 year ago by morninglori
Latest reply from chiccottagejunk

morninglori
Member

I saw several posts about sales some people have had and been disappointed and thought I would throw in my 2 cents.
My friend and I have had a garden show 3 years in a row on the second weekend in June. We buy all year and reinvent,build, paint,mosaic and add our "touch" to anything we can find that is "garden-themed." We have it in my friend's garden and have a guest book so with that, sending out flyers and word of mouth we are quite overwhelmed! We are very organized and have everything tagged with a price along with some whimiscal info about the piece. This year we had 2 people at the money table and 8 people in the yard because people now know to come right when we open at 11:00 Friday.
We sell everything from trellises, birdhouses,birdbaths,tables, planted chairs and more and cannot belive how much we do!! Its alot of work but well worth it for the amount of fun we have buying and creating stuff. We have tried just turning over some stuff but found that was not why people came, so the next year we would add something to it, and up the price $10.00 and out the door it would go!
This year we were concerned about the economy but found people appreciate the one-of-a-kind things that are unique,recycled,and creative and will spend the money.
So anyway thats my story and for anyone in upstate NY we are already planning next year!!!

Sandy

Posted 1 year ago #
Leveta
Member

sandy that is sooo great... That helps me with some questions I had...Thank You for sharing...

Posted 1 year ago #
magark
Member

I too love OOAK items and often buy when I see them. Garden shows are a favorite of mine as I did take the Master Gardeners course here but have since let my membership lapse. Just didn't seem to have time to keep up the required hours for community service and continued education. I tend to get involved it way too many projects and really have learned the past year to politely decline offers! I wish I lived closer to attend your garden show....it sounds so much fun! Post some pics if you have any available. Thanks for sharing the information with us. Jan

Posted 1 year ago #
chiccottagejunk
Member

Wow, Sandy, thank you so much for your tips and information. Your garden show/sale sounds more like a garden party! It really sounds like you and your friends put a lot of time and effort into it and it just sounds pretty unique.

I do like that you are referring to it as a Garden Show & Sale. I've almost finished my yard work (new flower gardens, transplanting, etc. - we now have 11 or 12 flower beds) for the summer and I'm really proud of what we've accomplished in a yard that once was mostly sand and a few blades of grass here and there. We don't have family or friends near us, so no entertaining for us. But now I know how to combine our pretty gardens/yard and my desire to stage my first home show with the items I am working on or have completed. I don't think that I'd be ready this year as I've already over-committed myself with my junk at three shops and 5 arts and craft shows between Sep-Nov. I will start planning my own Garden Show & Sale for next year. Any more tips & tricks and photos you'd like to share would certainly be appreciated. My email address is listed on my profile if you don't mind sharing more info.

Thanks so much!
Sue

Posted 1 year ago #
RosieO
Member

WOW, Sandy!
Now this is something I could do! My SIL and I. And perhaps a couple of gardener/crafter friends.
I like colored glass, my SIL paints, one friend does wonderful rustic wreaths, etc. This would be real easy to expand on.
Did you integrate the salable items throughout the garden, or just in one area?
I love this!
Thanks so much -- Rosie

Posted 1 year ago #
morninglori
Member

Thanks for the comments...Sue, it sounds like you are planning the same type of show and feel free to ask any questions as to what worked for us. Your garden sounds beautiful and the perfect setting for this type of show. Rosie, great that have a few other people to tap other talents.
We talked about going in a show but decided our stuff would "show" better in the venue it was intended and the main reason....no competition!!! We started a list of people we wanted to send a mailer to as soon as we started planning(1 year ahead) and added to it whenever someone expressed interest. we found almost everyone bought something...we had things from $15.00 to $150.00.
My friend is more of a painter..I'm more of the craftsman,building the trellises, and birdhouses. Also, I cast concrete mushrooms and mosaic them along with casting leaves for birdbaths. We overlap on alot too but fortunately get along well and have not had one problem.
We use the whole garden! Hanging stuff in the trees and on the fence and every possible area to display things. It looked like a setting for "Alice in Wonderland" LOL
I do have photos and will get them on this darn computer so I can post some for you....

Sandy

Posted 1 year ago #
Leveta
Member

Oh can't wait to see!!!

Posted 1 year ago #
chiccottagejunk
Member

Sandy - thank you - you've already answered some of my questions.

Display - I was already picturing hanging things from trees and fences, staging items as I would put them in my own yard - so I was glad to see that you already did that successfully. Did you only have garden items or did you sell other items that you've repurposed? I do lots of Shabby Chic that sells well at the shop I consign in so I thought I'd put that type of stuff out too. Can I get your take on that?

Pricing - I was also going to ask about pricing - what your low and high prices were and you touched on that, thank you.

Community - Can I ask what type of community you are in? Are you urban, rural, subdivision? Is it a community "with money" or average jack and jills?

Advertisement - I like the idea of your mailing list and already planned to do that at the shows that I'm in this fall/winter. I also plan to have my sale date already determined for next year so that I can have fliers to pass out at all of the shows this fall. I also have many of my items in an upscale antique/craft shop in a quaint antique village near me. I'll be able to get her mail list and send fliers to all of her shoppers as well. Other than your mailing list/fliers - what type of advertising did you do? I would list on our local Craigslist and run an ad in the small local papers. Do you list in the larger newspapers or find that a waste because it doesn't hit the right market?

Sale Day(s) - Did you sell for one/two/three days? Which day(s) seem to be your best sale day?

Workers - I see that you had 10 working - I'm thinking of going at it alone or possibly with one other gal who does folk painting but she does mostly holiday decor and does some spring/summer painting on enamelware, shovels, birdhouses, etc. Would you recommend trying it alone the first year or do you think that would be disastrous?

Thank you Sandy for your help. I'm glad you don't think that I'm starting the planning too soon for next year!

Sue

Posted 1 year ago #
Leveta
Member

I can see the headlines now "Junkers break out all over us"...Wouldn't that be something...

Posted 1 year ago #
morninglori
Member

Sue, now is the time to plan it out and especially set your date to give people heads up. We did our show Friday 11:00-6:00 and Sat. 9:30 to 4:30 with Friday being the best day.

We had so much to set up and bring out since it rained the nite before, so we needed everyone's help. I couldn't imagine doing it alone, as it was, I could barely find time to run in the house for a bottle of water! Our help were all friends and every year we have more volunteers, plus they can cherry pick!

I think you should have some of your shabby chic stuff there too. Good to have a variety but we heard "Can this go outside?" all day. We did have several furniture pieces and sold some of them, but next year we will focus more on outside stuff.
We live in Rochester and our show is near a shopping plaza so we also had great signs made for the main road. Next year we will also run something in our local gardening magazine and Craig's list is also a good idea. Your best customers will be the people who already know you and who have bought from you already so talk it up!! Also, try to get emails from people, keeps the postage cost down.

I can email you our last flyer so you can see what we did. I'm going on vaca(actually to Michigan)Wednesday for 10 days so my computer usage will be limited...

Sandy

Posted 1 year ago #
chiccottagejunk
Member

Thank-you again, Sandy, for so much info and for answering my questions. I will try to get my sister to come out next year for the sale & I'm sure I could get a friend or two (I know very few people in our area).

My mail list for the craft shows will have a column for email - I agree about keeping the costs down. And signage - of course - I didn't think about the obvious - of course!

Yes, please email your flyer if you don't mind - sesrandall@yahoo.com.

Where abouts are you going to Michigan?!

Sue

Posted 1 year ago #

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