Since I won't be doing the Art Walk tomorrow, I thought I'd share a brief review of my latest Show - the Fall Into Style shopping event. It is a fundraiser for the Young Alumni Scholarship at my high school and I've been on the planning committee for four(?) years now, but this was the first year I took the leap to buy a table.
Unfortunately I never did grab a picture of my table set up - which was very similar to the Independents' Day Fair that I did in order to work in a throw pillow & matching blanket. This is one of the few times I have had a table provided to me and with it being an 8 foot table, I felt like I could spread my wings (or rather my product)! I've been thinking about upgrading to an 8 foot table for a while and this just sealed it for me.
The evening was definitely our best yet - the room's flow, evening events, and finger food options all perfectly complimented one another. The only thing that was really missing was the foot traffic and constant sales. I've noticed in past years that the event almost feels more like a cocktail party - grab a glass of wine and plate of hor d'oeuvres and mingle with your friends - than a private trunk show of classy shoppers & high-end boutiques.
I broke even, making the table fee, and one more sale above that giving me a small profit margin for the night. It definitely wasn't much of a profit margin to make me an automatic sign-up for next year, however, so I'll have to weigh if benefiting my school's scholarship is worth the potential lack of sales for my time.
But overall I'm happy I got to show off Knittedhome to my friends and committee members as well as support such a wonderful school and a scholarship that will allow other young ladies discover their incredible potential at this school.
Have you ever done a fundraiser or benefit event as a business decision? What do you do when a Show has low foot traffic and/or low sales overall? I'd love to hear all about it in the comments below! Be sure to click "subscribe via email" to receive comment reply notifications.
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