Thursday, April 10, 2008

We Don't Sell Food or Toilet Paper

My sales at the April occasional sale in Buffalo continued to be spotty. Some furniture seems to be selling, the number of shoppers has increased substantially and interest has heated up from the depths of winter. My sales were higher in volume but capped by an $89 upholstered chair. I sold a ton of smalls. $15-20 frames and paintings sold out. But my $395 brass bed bench generated little interest. It appears that the customers wanted to buy, but were limiting their purchases to my cheaper items.

I have never really understood the antiques business. The one thing that I have learned is that as soon as I think I have it worked out, I am wrong. Then there is the undeniable truth that we don't sell necessities. There is no food or toilet paper for sale in the shop. There is an inverse relationship between gasoline prices and sales. The more gasoline costs the less discretionary money there is for my shabotaged pieces.

I am going to gut my spot at the Porch before the May occasional sale. I need to shake it up completely. I will add many more smalls. Smaller tables, cheaper furniture and many more frames, prints and paintings. I want to have a more Spring look. More things for the garden. More color. And I do have the turquoise, teal and aqua memo in hand for the shabotaging. Maybe some nice weather will permit me to rework my inventory and freshen my look.

And I am very happy that I have a real job to support this habit.

Mr. Flannery

1 comment:

Francie...The Scented Cottage Studio said...

Sigh, we are all having to do a bit of "re-inventing". When I had my antique booths smalls usually saved my month. I firmly believe that people want to buy SOMETHING and if they can't afford a large piece they will go for something small...so I always have them on hand.
Can't wait to see photos of your shake up!