Craft Mall Question

[Suef]

Hi all... I don't post much, mostly read, but I can't think of a better group to get an opinion on this issue from! My husband and I are opening a craft mall in our town. We have space for up to 150 vendors, we're about half capacity right now with signups coming pretty quick, so I expect to be at 100 by our opening in June.

How many chandlers would you think was appropriate? Right now we have 4, two are strictly beeswax tapers, pillars, molded candles; two do soy containers and votives and melts. I've turned away several container chandlers because I didn't want to over-saturate any one type of product, but we only had 50 vendors signed up at that time. How many chandlers would you think appropriate at 75, or 100, or 150?

Would welcome any opinions... TIA!

[magsglass]

A craft mall--how exciting for you and your town!!

I've been thinking over your question and don't know what advice to give, as I've not been in your shoes. However, I wonder if you've considered using an equal percentage approach?

You could categorize the types of crafts to be offered (e.g. candles, jewelry, woodcrafts, etc.) then divide your total number of categories into the total number of spaces you have to fill.

For example, if you come up with 15 categories of crafts, and 100 spaces to fill by June, 100/15=6.66. Each category would have 6 to 7 vendors. To fill 125 spaces by October, you'd have 125/15=8.3, or 8 vendors per category.

As you fill your mall, you can keep a balanced mix of vendors so that there's never more than X% of each craft on the floor. You'll know what kinds of crafts you need to target and bring in, and I'm sure the vendors will appreciate the fairness of this policy, too.

You could utilize a waiting list for any craft that has more vendors than currently available spaces, and contact them as you grow. And, if it were me, I'd have a "miscellaneous" category for any unusual craft types I didn't think of when I made the original list.

HTH! Best of luck on your new venture. Please post pics of the mall if you can-I'd love to see how you've laid it out!

[Suef]

Thanks so much Mag, for your reply... and some excellent ideas. I'm going to use your suggestion, to the extent that I can without turning away too many crafters. We've done pretty well getting a good variety without oversaturation in any one area, but the candle applications just kept coming in and I wasn't sure I was being fair...your method will help! If you're ever in my part of the midwest (South Lyon, MI), stop in and see us!

Thanks again!

[Tammie]

Sue, how big is this place? What size booths are people going to have? Sounds very nice.

[Suef]

Tammie, the store is about 7000 sq ft. People have requested all kinds of sizes, the largest has been 3'x20x, smallest 1x2... average spaces are 2x4, 2x6, 3x4, 3x6, in that range. Do you have craft malls in your area? I know they're popular in some areas, not so much in others, some have done well in michigan, some have come and gone quickly. I've had my candles in other craft malls in Michigan and done well, and I've seen a few posts on craft malls on this board, it's interesting to see how different things are in different parts of the country... especially rates! You couldn't rent a shelf in Michigan for what people have mentioned for 10x10 spots in other areas!

So we'll see... but it's been fun Can I post the website to the store on this board? I'd love some feedback, and I'm so proud of the logo, done by BizzyB of this board! If not, someone let me know, I'll edit and remove. www.fourseasonsgoc.com

Wish me luck... vendor move-in starts tomorrow and grand opening 4 weeks from tomorrow! Thanks!