Age 11, my grandma owned an antique store, taught me how to sew, refinish furniture, and fix old broken things making them new again. We also had a garden. Those times were my favorite because I was learning a trade I would love for the rest of my life. I’m an ole’ die hard when it comes to my booth. I am almost 67, and my health, not the best, but I love it so much! I told myself when we retired I would also stop doing booths. To my surprise I met a wonderful friend who ended up buying an established business on the square in our small town and convinced me to just try a small booth. I did not know how much I missed it! I am back into an antique shop and loving it all over again. Thirty plus years while working other full time jobs. Now I get to allow my booth to consume all my free time and not so free time. I still refinish small furniture, still re- invent smalls into other things. My booth is doing well, but I still need advice daily because times change and I need to be able to know how they change. To all that love the hunt, I’m right there with ya! ❤P.S. I still hand make my own tags! Angel wings.
I've been a booth vendor since 1998. The number one thing I tell newbies is sourcing is the fun part. How fast you can clean, wax and tag an item isn't really fun. Each month I quarter turn everything in the booth.I have one large booth filled with shelves of books with primitive small furniture. The other booth is located in another section of the mall. It's a cottage chic booth. I am responsible for the social media and spread it across TikTok, RUclips, Instagram and several booth Facebook pages. Our mall is a destination place. There's no walking customers as we are not near other shopping businesses. I am sharing this post on my Facebook page for booth vendors. Great advice.
Thank you. Yep...sourcing is the fun, but the other part...cleaning and fixing and pricing and getting it into the store is the important not fun part...and it takes SO much more time than you think. I love your quarter turn rotation. Great idea for those that are stuck on what to move around...that makes it easy and gives everything a fresh new look.
I watch videos like yours to learn! Thank you for being vulnerable. I have a big market coming up in a couple weeks! I’ve been planning for a good while but still feel as if I don’t know what will sell. Smalls are a staple I have learned that. I have a ton! Displays I learned about to by watching other videos of like minded resellers. A wealth of knowledge is available. And I ask questions when I meet vendors like myself. Super important to be teachable.
You are on a much larger scale boother than most but struggle with some of the same problems. I always make rent and turn a great profit each month in my booth, why? 1st it's the location of the antique mall, main st and on the way to a national park. 2nd, I cater to the resellers and the collectors of 50s -60s, RV and campers and nostalgic boomers. I seem to have a good following that check out my area and I do not advertise on any social site but these customers are loyal to the store. Bookkeeping I do the old fashioned way with a ledger and I write what I paid for item off to the side, when I get the statement from booth I highlight it on my ledger and write sold/ date and write price I paid for item on this statement ( easy at tax time for COGs). Big selling items when I get it are mcm 35mm cameras and boomboxes and Tonka trucks, I cannot keep them in stock! Good advice to your viewers as always!
Thank you for this. I've had a space for 2 weeks now and definitely in beginners lane. I'm a substitute teacher 😂 I try to steer clear from Middle schoolers. My mom and I share a space so my first booth space is only 4x4 but my husband built me and mom awesome ladder shelving units etc
There are a million and one tips. I sell records and I learned that you have to make sure each bin is almost totally full except a little space for people to be able to flip through and see each title. I have shown up many times to my booth with a big gap in a bin and people leave it a complete disaster. People flip them forward and never bother to push them back. This goes for every booth, be aware that no one cares about your stuff, so don't be surprised to find items on the floor smashed and broken, oh, and candy trash on your booth floor. You gotta be aware of the cons as well.
I've had several booths for many years & like you always say its a work in progress. I laughed when you said how you look at something that's been in your booth for a long time and say "I'm gonna take that darn thing home" and it sells- it has happened to me many times 🤣Our mall has been slow so it is hard sometimes to put a lot of work in your booth and not sell as good as you used to- I redo and rearrange my booths ( I have three 6x10) all the time. I find new - mostly smalls- to fill them all the time. I do agree with needing to do advertising on social media for yourself- when I do my sales are definitely better. Thanks for all the good ideas and tips and encouragement!
Thanks Christina. Great advice!! I opened my first rental booth in October and I am having so much fun doing it!! So far it’s been rewarding. This weekend is the Davisburg Antique Festival and I will be hustling there too. If you have never been, you should try it out. So much to see and treasure 😊. May 4 & 5.
You are welcome. I have never been to the Davisburg Antique Festival I might try to visit this year. What are the hours? Thank you for letting me know. Best of luck to you!
Just want to say that I enjoy your videos and shared this one with two wonderful ladies that I met in a small eclectic shop in Newburyport, Massachusetts. We rent small spaces for a high cost and definitely appreciate your information.
Great advice and couldn't agree more with each point. We have been at this for 10 years. My advice is treat it like a business and not a hobby. I could probably do an entire video on what that means. But basically it means set it up as a valid entity, create your plan, set your goals, track your inventory and activity, analyze your data and adjust accordingly. Thank you for sharing your experience and knowledge❤😊
New subscriber and although I don't have a booth, I had started thinking about selling some of the items I make on the side and I tried a couple of bazaars and as you said it is so difficult and you have to have so many items just to attract individuals to come towards your little kiosk or Booth. It's a lot of hard work. I'll have to wait until I'm ready to leave my full-time day job😅
I have 4 booths. Been doing this full time for 2 years. Some months I knock it out of the park, others I barely make rent. How do you keep from getting discouraged during the slow times?
Since I am tracking my analytics every month I can usually tell why it is slow and a lot of the times it is due to something I have let slip...knowing the WHY helps...If I notice a dip in the numbers I look for ways to change things...change up my booth, post more on social media, use video, share to local sites about my booth. I try not to get discouraged and am always looking for a new thing to try and a new stream of income. Am I perfect...nope...do I have pity parties...sometimes. Another thing that really helps me are my booth owner friends and the community that I created in my Booth Owners Business Group. We support and help one another. No one understands this business quite like another booth owner. Hope this helps. Hang in there.
💯having a booth is a ton of work!! I e been a booth owner for 4 years (5 locations down to 1) but like you, I used to teach middle and high school English! I love what I’m doing but it’s definitely a lot of work!!
I am currently teaching kindergarten in a small private school and I am a booth owner in a pop-up shop. We open once a month and have to completely re-set our booths every month. Our sales are decent, but it is the most work I have ever done.
I’ve had a booth since 2015 also. It mostly just made the rent with very little profit. Our antique mall was bought by a younger couple and they’ve made a lot of improvements including social media. I think I need to do the bookkeeping thing now but I’m so overwhelmed and don’t know where or how to start 😳. Any advice on this aspect of running a booth would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!
Check out the Booth Owners playlist here. I also have a private Booth Owners Group on Facebook. Lots of information and weekly lives. shoptheturnedleg.com/pages/booth-101-booth-owners-business-group
Good luck with your new business. There are a bunch of videos here and I also have a private Facebook Booth Owners Business group with weekly lives if you want more help. Thanks for watching.
My booth journey started as and still is a social event for me. I was at home isolating from the world after deployment and my therapist suggested this. I’m realizing my mindset isn’t always on sales but for me to get out of the house to socialize. I started with all smalls and too big of a space. After 7 years of doing this I believe I understand the mixture of smalls, mediums and large ticket items I need to be able to make rent/profit. Also, location is key- I’m now on the 1st and 2nd isle opposed to the 4th and 5th isle. Other vendors get on to me still about not utilizing ALL of my space. I still struggle with filling up my booth because I like it neat and orderly and not cluttered; I slack because of depression and I just don’t feel like doing anything; I’m overwhelmed with lots of inventory and pricing it is overwhelming; and at times I get discouraged because of lack of sales and give up for the month. This year I created a work schedule for myself- Monday/Tuesday pricing, Wednesday/Thursday stock booths, Friday-Sunday source, create, clean and relax. I also started journaling this journey…things are going very well with this in place. ❤
So proud of all you have accomplished! Your reasons for having a booth are your own and you have done a great job for you and it sounds like having a booth has really helped you grow. That makes my heart happy. So very proud of you. Thank you for sharing!
Awesome video. I can relate to every single thing that you mentioned. One other difficult thing for me is when customers ask for discounts on every little thing. It is insulting to me after all of the work that goes into stocking my booth. Also, I price so that everyone gets a good deal. I don't price higher so that I discount for the ones who ask. To me, that is unfair to the polite or shy people who don't ask for discounts. Any advice on how to handle this? Do signs about no discounts insult potential buyers?
If I may add, I wouldn't do the sign nor add the word " firm". You can always counter, just make up the difference on something else. Folks like deals...all the time!
Ahhh...the discounts...I feel the same way. My mall's policy is that items over a certain amount can get an automatic discount if they ask. I was told early on to just price that much higher so I can always get the price I want. It does still bug me (I take it a little personal with all the work that goes into everything...if I am in a grumpy mood I might mark all my high items "FIRM"...but since it IS the policy of the mall I need to just mark slightly up so the discounts don't bug me. But I hear you. I wish all prices were firm.
My mall calls to ask about discounts and I 100% of the time decline to lower my price. I price at what I need to get and I tell them so. The majority of the time the customer buys the item at my asking price. I know many malls have a lower limit for the price of an item before they will call a vendor. It is crazy to me that my mall will call about items under $20! I hate seeing their number come up on my phone because it wastes everyone’s time. I did recently put up signs saying all prices firm and no discounts. I still got one call for discounts. I took the signs down because they looked unfriendly to me and the calls started back the next day. Now I am back to saying no.
I am so thankful that our shop prices are firm. There is no negotiating and all of our regular customers know and appreciate that. We are a pop-up shop once a month. Things are priced fairly and usually low, which is why we do not discount.
I like going to Goodwill Bins, Goodwill on Sundays when they do their tag color change, church yard sales, community yard sales, booth owners who are having sales or going out of business and family/friends. 😊 Auctions are great too, I don’t go because I’m impatient and don’t want to stand around waiting for them to get to the stuff I want to bid on. I don’t want to have a bidding war with people, a lot of people love them and find really great things. Best wishes on your new endeavor.❤
Age 11, my grandma owned an antique store, taught me how to sew, refinish furniture, and fix old broken things making them new again. We also had a garden. Those times were my favorite because I was learning a trade I would love for the rest of my life. I’m an ole’ die hard when it comes to my booth. I am almost 67, and my health, not the best, but I love it so much! I told myself when we retired I would also stop doing booths. To my surprise I met a wonderful friend who ended up buying an established business on the square in our small town and convinced me to just try a small booth. I did not know how much I missed it! I am back into an antique shop and loving it all over again. Thirty plus years while working other full time jobs. Now I get to allow my booth to consume all my free time and not so free time. I still refinish small furniture, still re- invent smalls into other things. My booth is doing well, but I still need advice daily because times change and I need to be able to know how they change. To all that love the hunt, I’m right there with ya! ❤P.S. I still hand make my own tags! Angel wings.
I've been a booth vendor since 1998. The number one thing I tell newbies is sourcing is the fun part. How fast you can clean, wax and tag an item isn't really fun. Each month I quarter turn everything in the booth.I have one large booth filled with shelves of books with primitive small furniture. The other booth is located in another section of the mall. It's a cottage chic booth. I am responsible for the social media and spread it across TikTok, RUclips, Instagram and several booth Facebook pages. Our mall is a destination place. There's no walking customers as we are not near other shopping businesses. I am sharing this post on my Facebook page for booth vendors. Great advice.
Thank you. Yep...sourcing is the fun, but the other part...cleaning and fixing and pricing and getting it into the store is the important not fun part...and it takes SO much more time than you think. I love your quarter turn rotation. Great idea for those that are stuck on what to move around...that makes it easy and gives everything a fresh new look.
What I really like is the fact that you take time to show items at your rummage sales, flea markets, including your stuff great job!!
I watch videos like yours to learn! Thank you for being vulnerable. I have a big market coming up in a couple weeks! I’ve been planning for a good while but still feel as if I don’t know what will sell. Smalls are a staple I have learned that. I have a ton! Displays I learned about to by watching other videos of like minded resellers. A wealth of knowledge is available. And I ask questions when I meet vendors like myself. Super important to be teachable.
I love to share what I learned...so many have helped me and I feel I need to pay it forward.
You are on a much larger scale boother than most but struggle with some of the same problems. I always make rent and turn a great profit each month in my booth, why? 1st it's the location of the antique mall, main st and on the way to a national park. 2nd, I cater to the resellers and the collectors of 50s -60s, RV and campers and nostalgic boomers. I seem to have a good following that check out my area and I do not advertise on any social site but these customers are loyal to the store. Bookkeeping I do the old fashioned way with a ledger and I write what I paid for item off to the side, when I get the statement from booth I highlight it on my ledger and write sold/ date and write price I paid for item on this statement ( easy at tax time for COGs). Big selling items when I get it are mcm 35mm cameras and boomboxes and Tonka trucks, I cannot keep them in stock! Good advice to your viewers as always!
Thank you for this. I've had a space for 2 weeks now and definitely in beginners lane. I'm a substitute teacher 😂 I try to steer clear from Middle schoolers. My mom and I share a space so my first booth space is only 4x4 but my husband built me and mom awesome ladder shelving units etc
Glad it was helpful! Wishing you the best of luck!
There are a million and one tips. I sell records and I learned that you have to make sure each bin is almost totally full except a little space for people to be able to flip through and see each title. I have shown up many times to my booth with a big gap in a bin and people leave it a complete disaster. People flip them forward and never bother to push them back. This goes for every booth, be aware that no one cares about your stuff, so don't be surprised to find items on the floor smashed and broken, oh, and candy trash on your booth floor. You gotta be aware of the cons as well.
Excellent advice. Thank you for sharing!
Always finding litter from candy in my booth as well as items that have been broken. 😢
I've had several booths for many years & like you always say its a work in progress. I laughed when you said how you look at something that's been in your booth for a long time and say "I'm gonna take that darn thing home" and it sells- it has happened to me many times 🤣Our mall has been slow so it is hard sometimes to put a lot of work in your booth and not sell as good as you used to- I redo and rearrange my booths ( I have three 6x10) all the time. I find new - mostly smalls- to fill them all the time. I do agree with needing to do advertising on social media for yourself- when I do my sales are definitely better. Thanks for all the good ideas and tips and encouragement!
You are very welcome. Best of luck to you. Social media DOES help and it is FREE marketing.
I chuckled too at taking a piece out of the booth and then it sells. I’ve said this so many times. 😂
You have great videos, what I really stuff!! 😊
Thanks Christina. Great advice!! I opened my first rental booth in October and I am having so much fun doing it!! So far it’s been rewarding. This weekend is the Davisburg Antique Festival and I will be hustling there too. If you have never been, you should try it out. So much to see and treasure 😊. May 4 & 5.
You are welcome. I have never been to the Davisburg Antique Festival I might try to visit this year. What are the hours? Thank you for letting me know. Best of luck to you!
@@theturnedleg
Saturday 8-6
Sunday. 9-4
Just want to say that I enjoy your videos and shared this one with two wonderful ladies that I met in a small eclectic
shop in Newburyport, Massachusetts. We rent small spaces for a high cost and definitely appreciate your information.
Glad you found it helpful and thank you for sharing.
Great advice and couldn't agree more with each point. We have been at this for 10 years. My advice is treat it like a business and not a hobby. I could probably do an entire video on what that means. But basically it means set it up as a valid entity, create your plan, set your goals, track your inventory and activity, analyze your data and adjust accordingly. Thank you for sharing your experience and knowledge❤😊
Well said! I totally agree with you. Thank you for sharing!
New subscriber and although I don't have a booth, I had started thinking about selling some of the items I make on the side and I tried a couple of bazaars and as you said it is so difficult and you have to have so many items just to attract individuals to come towards your little kiosk or Booth. It's a lot of hard work. I'll have to wait until I'm ready to leave my full-time day job😅
Not trying to discourage you. Start small. Follow your heart.
Thank you for sharing. Such interesting insights into running a booth!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Thanks for another awesome video. I totally agree with everything you said.
You are so welcome! Thanks for watching.
I have 4 booths. Been doing this full time for 2 years. Some months I knock it out of the park, others I barely make rent. How do you keep from getting discouraged during the slow times?
Since I am tracking my analytics every month I can usually tell why it is slow and a lot of the times it is due to something I have let slip...knowing the WHY helps...If I notice a dip in the numbers I look for ways to change things...change up my booth, post more on social media, use video, share to local sites about my booth. I try not to get discouraged and am always looking for a new thing to try and a new stream of income. Am I perfect...nope...do I have pity parties...sometimes. Another thing that really helps me are my booth owner friends and the community that I created in my Booth Owners Business Group. We support and help one another. No one understands this business quite like another booth owner. Hope this helps. Hang in there.
💯having a booth is a ton of work!! I e been a booth owner for 4 years (5 locations down to 1) but like you, I used to teach middle and high school English! I love what I’m doing but it’s definitely a lot of work!!
So true!
I am currently teaching kindergarten in a small private school and I am a booth owner in a pop-up shop. We open once a month and have to completely re-set our booths every month. Our sales are decent, but it is the most work I have ever done.
I'm an absolute newbie and this video is INVALUABLE. ❤ Thanks so much ~ New subscriber.
Glad it was helpful! Welcome!
Great tips! Ty! 💓💓💓
You are so welcome!
I’ve had a booth since 2015 also. It mostly just made the rent with very little profit. Our antique mall was bought by a younger couple and they’ve made a lot of improvements including social media. I think I need to do the bookkeeping thing now but I’m so overwhelmed and don’t know where or how to start 😳. Any advice on this aspect of running a booth would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!
Check out the Booth Owners playlist here. I also have a private Booth Owners Group on Facebook. Lots of information and weekly lives. shoptheturnedleg.com/pages/booth-101-booth-owners-business-group
I’m currently planning to open a shop near my home. Going to listen to ALL your advice ❤
Good luck with your new business. There are a bunch of videos here and I also have a private Facebook Booth Owners Business group with weekly lives if you want more help. Thanks for watching.
My booth journey started as and still is a social event for me. I was at home isolating from the world after deployment and my therapist suggested this. I’m realizing my mindset isn’t always on sales but for me to get out of the house to socialize.
I started with all smalls and too big of a space. After 7 years of doing this I believe I understand the mixture of smalls, mediums and large ticket items I need to be able to make rent/profit. Also, location is key- I’m now on the 1st and 2nd isle opposed to the 4th and 5th isle.
Other vendors get on to me still about not utilizing ALL of my space. I still struggle with filling up my booth because I like it neat and orderly and not cluttered; I slack because of depression and I just don’t feel like doing anything; I’m overwhelmed with lots of inventory and pricing it is overwhelming; and at times I get discouraged because of lack of sales and give up for the month.
This year I created a work schedule for myself- Monday/Tuesday pricing, Wednesday/Thursday stock booths, Friday-Sunday source, create, clean and relax. I also started journaling this journey…things are going very well with this in place. ❤
So proud of all you have accomplished! Your reasons for having a booth are your own and you have done a great job for you and it sounds like having a booth has really helped you grow. That makes my heart happy. So very proud of you. Thank you for sharing!
@@theturnedleg thank you. Your comment means a lot.
Awesome video. I can relate to every single thing that you mentioned.
One other difficult thing for me is when customers ask for discounts on every little thing. It is insulting to me after all of the work that goes into stocking my booth.
Also, I price so that everyone gets a good deal. I don't price higher so that I discount for the ones who ask. To me, that is unfair to the polite or shy people who don't ask for discounts.
Any advice on how to handle this? Do signs about no discounts insult potential buyers?
If I may add, I wouldn't do the sign nor add the word " firm". You can always counter, just make up the difference on something else. Folks like deals...all the time!
Ahhh...the discounts...I feel the same way. My mall's policy is that items over a certain amount can get an automatic discount if they ask. I was told early on to just price that much higher so I can always get the price I want. It does still bug me (I take it a little personal with all the work that goes into everything...if I am in a grumpy mood I might mark all my high items "FIRM"...but since it IS the policy of the mall I need to just mark slightly up so the discounts don't bug me. But I hear you. I wish all prices were firm.
My mall calls to ask about discounts and I 100% of the time decline to lower my price. I price at what I need to get and I tell them so. The majority of the time the customer buys the item at my asking price. I know many malls have a lower limit for the price of an item before they will call a vendor. It is crazy to me that my mall will call about items under $20! I hate seeing their number come up on my phone because it wastes everyone’s time. I did recently put up signs saying all prices firm and no discounts. I still got one call for discounts. I took the signs down because they looked unfriendly to me and the calls started back the next day. Now I am back to saying no.
I am so thankful that our shop prices are firm. There is no negotiating and all of our regular customers know and appreciate that. We are a pop-up shop once a month. Things are priced fairly and usually low, which is why we do not discount.
Hi. I’m a new booth owner and curious, where is it best to find stock? Anything special I should be on the lookout for? Thank you
This video may help. ruclips.net/video/uRtSWNImU7g/видео.html
I like going to Goodwill Bins, Goodwill on Sundays when they do their tag color change, church yard sales, community yard sales, booth owners who are having sales or going out of business and family/friends. 😊
Auctions are great too, I don’t go because I’m impatient and don’t want to stand around waiting for them to get to the stuff I want to bid on. I don’t want to have a bidding war with people, a lot of people love them and find really great things.
Best wishes on your new endeavor.❤