Featured I have a question. Does anyone know what seems to be selling good?

A friend of mine is opening a store in central California. Visalia to be exact an he wants me to take a couple of booths. I closed my antique store 5 years ago so I am not sure what I should take. Anyone have any ideas? His store is Vintage an Antiques.

 

I can't speak as to what would sell well in California, as I am located on the other side of the country but, at this time of year, you can't go wrong with spotless, well pressed table linens, interesting sterling or silverplate serving pieces, crystal stemware.
Also try to have on hand items suitable for gift giving, such as jewelry, china and crystal.
I am well stocked with Christmas items, ceramic cookie jars, salt & pepper sets, glassware, holiday related costume jewelry as well as Christmas ornaments, ready to roll out in the next few weeks.
Good luck on your re-entry to the market, I gave up my own shop 15 years ago and have been in group shops ever since. Have now narrowed my space to 2 locations with about 1000 sq.ft. total floor space and have never regretted that decision

 

Thank you for the input. I do have beautiful crystal, an old ornaments.

 

Ah, middle of ag land.
Did you specialize in anything when you had your store?
Rustic mixed with some of the chalk painted furniture. Off set with what Sandra said. You won't really know until you have been there for a few months and can see what is selling.

I have been here in the foothills in several locations in Amador and Calaveras counties, before finally opening my own store.
Every location catered to a different customer. Hopefully you get to work a few days a month so you have an idea what kind of customer you are attracting. If no work is required, it's worth your while to go in and just hang around and see what the foot traffic is like.

 

Hi DeAnne, can you get an idea from your friend about what the other dealers are selling? I have a friend who sells antique and vintage books, cooking equipment and tools. I sell antique and vintage jewelry, pottery and glass. We found that our two booths work well next to each other at shows and at the flea market because we have different things.

She noticed that at antique shows 4 or 5 dealers in primitives like to cluster together and it seems to us that doesn't work well. Last year, at one of our shows, a couple of those primitive dealers did badly, but a different primitive dealer that was set up across the room, with non primitive dealers around her, had a fabulous show.

I also notice that in some multi dealer shops a lot of the booths have the same or very similar merchandise. Also very often dealers just pile way too much stuff into the booth without any thought of how to make an appealing display.

Regularly changing out items, making sure the tags are not faded from age (a sure sign that the item has been sitting there way too long) and keeping everything clean goes a long way.

So, JMHO, if possible be the different one in the group. Especially make sure what you show is different from the people directly around you. Don't overstuff the booth and arrange your pieces so they are inviting and easy to see. Regularly switch out items and make sure everything looks fresh and clean. Is this new shop near you, will you be able to go by regularly for maintence?

We have been thinking about this a lot lately because we were approached by a dealer at the flea market who is thinking of starting up a coop. She likes what we sell and how we display our items and asked if we would be interested. It's amazing how it gets you thinking when an opportunity like this comes up

 

What she said. I don't sell at the brick and mortar level, but switching things up seems to help. I'd stock some oddball items if I were you; they always seem to be the first thing to go, unless they hang around forever and gather dust.