I swiftly moved to my new “booth” at the antique store last week and love it already. Soon it will be carefully curated and overflowing with luscious vintage treasures. I'll update with photos when that task is complete, but let's take a look at what's been going on with the Southern Crossing Antique Mall booth since the last update.
July: Well, at least it's not a loss...
Sub Total of Sales: $77.00
Commission: $7.70
Grand Total: $69.30
Grand Total: $69.30
August: A great start so far! (checked 8/3/2011)...
Sub Total of Sales: $52.00
These are the sales for August from when I checked a week ago. I can't wait to see if there have been more this evening while I rearrange and add stock to the booth.
Oh look, I finally got around to creating "grab bags" and plenty of small ticket merchandise for the for the antique store booth. It's the small merchandise that quickly adds up to making sales, as you can tell from the August sales trends!
These are fun to put together and display. I have more than enough supplies and merchandise to make a few hundred of these, just wish I had more time to get caught up and get them out there! I have so many ideas.
They'll be perfect "$5 and under" gifts for when Christmas rolls around as well. Yep, it's already past time to be brainstorming about ways to increase sales for Christmas time!
The antique store booth continues to teach me retail lessons. One day I may have my dream thrift store, but until then, I have this space to experiment with. I'm glad I'm making sales from this part-time effort, and I know sales will only increase from here.
By the way, if you're local and want to check out the booth... ask the ladies at front desk of Southern Crossing Antique Mall to take you to booth "#4504" to find my new location in the shop. There's a lot of goodies for under $5 and I'm adding plenty of new merchandise while slashing prices on other vintage treasures. Come check it out, surely find something for an amazing price.
Past Antique Store Wisdom Posts:
[2/02/2011] Don't Underprice Your Items
[2/10/2011] Should You Rent a Booth at the Antique Store?
[2/16/2011] Stage Your Booth Like a Pro and Increase Sales
[3/03/2011] The Answers to Your Antique Store Booth Questions
[5/03/2011] The Four Month Update (A Candid look at my Sales)
[5/11/2011] Finding the Best Antique Store
[6/02/2011] The Vintage Cabin's Expert Reselling Tips
[6/09/2011] 10 Action Steps to Improve Booth Sales, NOW!
[6/07/2011] Antique Store Wisdom: The 6 Month Update
[7/14/2011] A Frank Look at the Sales Numbers
[7/21/2011] Sales Trends and Surprises
How are your reselling and creative business efforts going?
Great post! These antique store wisdom posts are really inspiring. I can't wait until I can afford to open a booth in my local antique mall.
ReplyDeleteI'm on a trial and error basis with shipping costs, so I can't wait until I don't have to worry as much about those. It's discouraging to realize you miscalculated and have to dip into your profits to cover shipping, but I guess it's a whole lot better to make a lower profit than to be in the red.
Anyway, good luck this week!
-Dani
Every time I look at your booth I get sad at all the thingz I wish I could buy! I like your merchandise!
ReplyDeleteE :)
Congratulations on your new booth space!! I can't wait to visit the SC Mall to check everything out! I went a few weekends ago with some girlfriends and we all bought some treasures! I love reading your posts and feel very fortunate to "know" you. :)
ReplyDeleteGreat post & excellent point about the small ticket merchandise adding up! The average customer going into a store may not be looking for big ticket items or willing to plunk down $100 unplanned, but if they see something they dig & it's a great price, then why not? I know I'm much more willing to put money out for something I think is neat if it's less than $10 vs something I'm absolutely CRAZY about but commands a much steeper price...
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting with July and August (to date). Looking forward to your next update. It looks like better lighting in your new space - do you have the tall shelf and the short shelf now?
ReplyDeleteDani: I'm glad it's helpful and inspiring for you! I am in the same trail and error basis with shipping costs and have broke even once on heavy cast iron owl trivets, so you are not alone my friend.
ReplyDeleteWe'll keep going and learning, I'm told it becomes second-nature once you're used to it!
VintageSweetheart: Pssst...you can order a lot of stuff that's in my booth online and then some: http://thriftcore.storenvy.com/
ReplyDelete;) Thank you for the kind words!
Carla: Thank you so much for stopping by and bringing friends to clear out some merchandise! I greatly appreciate it! There will be much more $1-$5 merchandise coming out to reward my thrifty repeat customers :) !
ReplyDeleteAmy: That's right! I love to support local art but sometimes I can't afford a big piece. If they offer prints and small merch, I'll almost always scoop up something to help the cause. Even if it's gifted to a pal.
A Vintage Green: Yep, the new additions are:
ReplyDelete-additional short shelf
-the "walls" on the sides to hang merch and art
- wall space above to hang merch and art
- floor space to place larger items in front of the shelf
And yes, the lighting is much better over here, and there's more space for me to take full pictures of the booth.
I already love the new space and can't wait stage it nicely. The photos you see are of my "rush job"!
Such great tips, as always. I move into my booth on Saturday! I love the way you bag smaller items. I will def try that!
ReplyDeleteLiz: Try it! Sales will increase and you'll decrease shrink. I left an owl necklace laying on the shelf un-bagged, it's gone now. Hopefully it's floating around in the store, but it could be stolen. Grr.
ReplyDeletewhat do you think contributed to the increase this month? do you think it's the new location? or more small stuff? hope the necklace shows up!
ReplyDeleteAngelika: Definitely the small ticket merchandise, but the new booth is a contributor to an increase in sales because:
ReplyDelete- It forced me to rearrange items, always good for sales.
- There's more space so I can fit ample merch, customers can shop with increased comfort, and the extra space makes each item prominent.
Van, your space looks so great! Congratulations. When we have garage sales we always have a small suitcase filled with bagged jewelry. It sells really well. Oh, and I meant to write about your adorable earrings on the Speed Racer card. Too cute!
ReplyDeleteTYRaines: Thank you for the kinds words! I wanted to keep my cards to play one day, but I never play cards! They're perfectly paired with the earrings; I'm sure they'll make the recipients happy.
ReplyDeleteI've been enjoying bagging up bits of jewelry, the "grab bags" are fun!
I also have an antique mall booth, a big one, and so far (knock on wood) I've only had one item stolen and it wasn't even an antique! There's an article in Antique Week about the uptick in antique mall thefts, so everyone should be careful about what they're leaving outside a locked case. Of course, according to the article a locked case didn't deter someone from stealing THREE antique guns out of one. Thieves are smart, so to thwart them we have to be smart, too. Typically the summer is dead for our antique mall since it's just too hot to go outside, I guess, but I had a crazy good July. One reason is the ongoing 30% off sale that I have, another is that I'm selling alot of my good glass cheap, but I'm not losing money. Good luck with your bigger space! Even in hard times, people want to buy a little "goodie" now and then!!!
ReplyDeleteChristine: Your booth sounds amazing from how you've been described it on your site ;) You have the best true vintage treasures ever.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for all these tips, precautions, and wishing luck. Luck to you with your vintage reselling exploits as well!
I love your booth more and more each post, I love how we are getting your wisdom right there and raw!
ReplyDeleteLou: It's definitely my raw, embarrassing data. ;)
ReplyDelete