Selling at a mall kiosk

[nayarx8]

has anyone ever done this? has it been worth your while? is it expensive? is there usually a certain length of contract you are required to sign?

[Spellkast]

it is VERY expensive...at least at my mall..they wanted $16,000 for 4 months...yeah, you read that right. I laughed out loud on the phone when the woman at the mall told me that! PLUS- if you make over 4,000 in a month(which only means at this point that you'd be breaking even) they take 10% of your sales!!! I'd have to sell my candles for like $300 each to make a profit...it may be cheaper depending on where you're at, but chances are, it still wouldn't be worth it much. If you DO do it, only do it for, say, a month. This way if you do poorly, you're only out a couple of thousand, but you'd have at least gotten some exposure and maybe some dedicated customers from it.

[nayarx8]

i just got an email from the leasing specialist at my mall. its $2200 a month from jan.-oct. and $7000 a month nov. and dec. i would have loved to do it, but definitely cant afford it!

[StacysScentsations(DH)]

It is expensive but I will tell you our mall has the same candle person every single year and I cant imagine them just waiting for the season to lose all their profits so they must be making money.

[slow-burn]

I just finished the holiday season in a local mall. I had to sign a contract, and I was in the mall from Nov 15 until Christmas. Money was a few thousand to rent it.

Some points to consider:

* make sure you can be there alot of the hours yourself. Since you actually make the product versus the buy/sell booths, your time is very valuable. What are the lease agreements? For ours we had to be open every hour that the mall was open, which was almost 80 hours a week BEFORE Holiday hours started. Lots of time that needs covered so:

*Do you have dependable peeps to do it for you

*Are you able to do it yourself

*Are you going to pay peeps

* Check your contract closesly for operation hours as suggested above, and also what to do for weather situations.

*Running out of stock - are you allowed to close early?

*What is the amount that you can make before additonal payment needs made? Ours was over 20,000, we had to pay an additional 20% on top of our rental fee.

* Are you prepared to not make alot if that happens? We ran into the bind of a slow start on the season all together. We were there or paying someone to be there and some days didn't sell anything, but still had wages that needed paid.

*Just read their contract carefully before you sign, and make sure that you make your wants known in advance.

Over all, I am fairly content with how we did. I grossed about 3-4 times what we paid, however that is not profit at all. We had the rental fee, the gas to get back and forth, the cost of materials (which you need alot to make something like this to work) the employees (cuz you can't be making them and working all them hours--especially if you have another job like I do-even though it is part time), eating (take what you can with you, or be prepared to live on what you can find at the mall). We ended out coming out a tad ahead, however, for this being our first year here, and not having a name that is recognized, the advertisement was worth it to us. Very tireding, and frustrating, however, so far I have had quite a few customers calling to tell me how much they like my candles and where they can get more. I do have quite a bit of supplies, so I wont have to order anytime soon, lol! But we did many a nights to where we had to get someone to work, and come home and make 20-30 cases of candles in a nite just so we would have enough stock for the next day. So you really, need to have a good invetory on hand. We did this at the last minute, and i honestly think it will go better next year since I will be more prepared than what I was this time around. Hope this helps and good luck!!