Antique Mall and Flea Market Booths can be profitable and a lot of fun.
Have you ever tried to sell at an Antique Mall or Flea Market? It definitely is not as easy as it looks. As I did my research for this article, I visited several Flea Market and Antique Malls to get a better perspective of selling at someone else’s storefront. At one time I was interested in my own booth. With hours and hours of digging for information, I did come up with some valuable tips that may help you decide if selling items in a rented booth is for you. Here are a few tips of my own for making your booth attractive, fun, and most of all, profitable.
An Attractive Booth Makes People Want To Buy
If your customer’s eye is not drawn to your space, the sale has no chance. It’s one of the most important things to remember is to make your booth inviting and attractive, or better yet, beautiful. Arrange and display your items so they look best. Group the ones that are similar in color and design etc. Use lifters to elevate a few items, give depth to them. Even place one or two of the items on a stack of books, an inverted flowerpot, or a kitchen shelf rack to make them more interesting to look at. There are so many options, use them all. Spend some time looking through books and magazines on interior design to get ideas on how to make attractive and interesting displays. These are wonderful sources of inspiration. Don’t clutter your booth. It’s hard for buyers to see everything and it just looks messy. Be sure to mark items that are damaged or have a flaw. Your reputation as an honest vendor is very important if you want return customers.
Price So Everyone Can Buy
Try to have items with a wide range of prices in your booth. If you don’t you limit what buyers will like your booth, and if they see high priced only items for sure they won’t come back. This is not a garage sale so don’t price it like one. It cheapens your booth to put things out that are priced at fifty cents, or anything less than a dollar. They take forever to add up and are a waste of your time to clean and tag them, and a waste of the staff’s time to ring them up and package them.
Keep Your Booth Full & Fresh
Keep your booth well-stocked at all times. You will have to plan on making at least two trips a week to your booth. Items will need rearranged and added to. The vendors who come in and work on their booths most often, always do the best with their sales. You will want your booth to look fresh every week. Remember, the inventory in your booth must add up to several times the amount of the rent for your space. If your rent is $100 per month, you won’t be able to pay it if your booth only has $75 worth of merchandise in it. Keep in mind, your inventory should add up to at least four or five times the amount of your monthly rent.
Friendly People Sell More
Smile. Be friendly to the staff and to the other vendors. Be sure to learn the first names of everyone on the staff and greet them when you come into work on your booth. Introduce yourself to other venders and strike up a conversation. If you have a problem or an issue of some kind, call the manager or owner aside and bring it to their attention discreetly and quietly. Never make a scene at the counter with customers or other vendors present, and never push in to ask for a price tag, marker, tape, or other items when the staff is busy with customers and sales. If a customer stops by while you are working on your booth, say hello and be pleasant.
Don’t Quit Your Day Job
Selling from a booth in an antique mall can be a lot of fun, and also very profitable. But it can be hard work, time-consuming and your income is not predictable. You will have some months when your sales are great, but there may be a few others when they are less than you hoped for. The best plan is to use the profits from your booth for extra money, not as your primary income.
