Monday, December 10, 2012

Craft Booth Design, part 1: Checkout

This season, I was faced with different booth sizes in each craft show:
  • 8 x 8 at EtsyRAIN
  • 10 x 10 at Urban Craft Uprising
  • 10 x 5 at Crafty Wonderland
  • 5 x 10 at Renegade Craft Fair SF (i.e. the left or right half of a 10 x 10 space)
I worked with the super talented Matthew Parker (of Matthew Parker Events) to redesign my displays for maximum flexibility and am pleased with how it has worked out. We made three major upgrades and one minor enhancement for this year. This post is about the first major upgrade.

Dedicated checkout area
This summer at Renegade SF, I was impressed with the Poppyhearts booth design, particularly her dedicated, obvious, clear checkout counter. I've often struggled to manage the "back of the house" stuff in an organized way - like where to stash my purse, where to keep shopping bags for customer purchases in easy access, and where to keep my cashbox so it's not visible & in the way.

The solution was under my nose the entire time: I own a bookcase whose shelves fold up and whose sides fold around, so it packs flat. It's heavy though. My friend Heidi of Max & Co. Postcards kindly altered one of my custom TCC-pattern tablecloths from Spoonflower to fit snugly around three sides of the bookcase (the secret ingredient is Velcro to hold the cloth to the bookcase!) and voila! Here are some shots of it at home, where I was playing around with the setup:

The bookcase shelves are prefect for holding all the essentials during the craft show!

I've got Velcro tape on bookcase, and Velcro sewn in to the cloth. Perfect!

Matthew created a simple yet elegant sign for the front of the bookcase: lightweight gator board with a vinyl This Charming Candy sticker. It ties to the bookcase via black satin ribbon.A white tray provides additional privacy for the cashbox and is great for displaying credit card logos to reinforce the idea that this is where to pay for your candy. Nice, huh!

Here it is, in action, at Urban Craft Uprising:
This Charming Candy craft show checkout counter... 



... at Urban Craft Uprising. Setup still in progress at this point.
That final picture hints at what my next posts about this year's booth upgrades will include...  stay tuned!

Friday, December 7, 2012

Super Colossal Holiday Sale: this weekend!

I'm hitting the road! Portland, I will see you soon *MWAH*
Look for This Charming Candy in booth #221...


Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Seattle Stockists: Tasty, Charly + May, Portage Bay Goods

In case you weren't able to attend the Seattle craft shows I participated in, fear not. Many shops in town carry This Charming Candy's gourmet lollipops! Recently I've had the pleasure of visiting a couple of our retail partners around Seattle to restock their stashes.

First up: Tasty Art Gallery in the Greenwood neighborhood! I was happy to get to see the amazing art installation for the Fairy Tales and Fables show. It's a great shop, one that is very supportive of alternative artists - and we're proud to be included there.

Lollipops by This Charming Candy, featured at Tasty Art Gallery
This Charming Candy lollipops on the counter at Tasty

Meanwhile, in the Queen Anne neighborhood at the top of the hill, modern gift shop Charley + May features an entire "candy bar" in one corner! Shop owner Lauren has assembled a well balanced variety of specialty, novelty, nostalgic, and local independent confections to choose from. And she tells me she's already got some devoted customers who keep returning for our lollipops. Yay!

Candy bar at Charley + May in Seattle, WA
The candy bar at Charley + May

Finally, we're thrilled to have a presence in the Fremont neighborhood, a.k.a. the Center of the Universe, at the super charming Portage Bay Goods shop. I love their tagline: "The gift shop for the thoughtful procrastinator!" This bright and cheerful shop even beckons to you on a rainy day, like the day I took this picture when I met shop owners Lauren & Shalene:

Portage Bay Goods now carries This Charming Candy lollipops
Portage Bay Goods stocks variety packs and individual lollipops, and about a bazillion other awesome things.

See our Stores page for more shops around Seattle and the US. Is there a store in your town you'd like to be able to buy This Charming Candy lollipops from? Mention it in the comments or send an email!
 

Friday, November 30, 2012

Urban Craft Uprising: this weekend!

As ever, we are so excited and proud to be part of Urban Craft Uprising.
See you there, tomorrow and/or Sunday!


Friday, November 23, 2012

Give Love, Give Handmade: this weekend!



Skip the mall in favor of unique handmade artistry... This Charming Candy's vivacious handmade lollipops & I will be in booth #233 in the upper level of McCaw Hall, today and tomorrow from 11 am - 5pm. I hope to see you this weekend!

Friday, November 16, 2012

Craft Show Countdown!

ONE WEEK.... until etsyRAIN Handmade Holiday Show
Find us in booth #233 (upper level of McCaw hall)!


TWO WEEKS... until Urban Craft Uprising
I'm not sure if the booths will be numbered... but we're located very close to the concessions and restrooms.



THREE WEEKS... until Crafty Wonderland Super Colossal Holiday Sale
Find us in booth #221!



FOUR WEEKS... until Renegade Craft Fair: San Francisco Holiday Market
Find us in booth #85, which we're sharing with our buddies from Ugly Baby, yay!



GET READY!!!!!!!!