This past weekend I participated in the Indian Mound Mall Arts and Crafts Show, it was a last minute decision but I thought it was a good deal. I paid $80.00 for a three day show at a mall, I was stoked. I figured that malls have tons of people all the time so naturally those people would come by and check out our booths. I don't think that was an unreasonable assumption but it was not how it went.
In the show promoters defense, it was the first year they put it on and I'm sure next year will be better but I doubt I will be returning. The spot they put us was in the back of the mall by an empty store, so there was no traffic coming in and out of the mall by us. We did have an amazing view of Walmart across the street and we got to watch hundreds of people shop there but they didn't seem interested enough to cross the street and check out our products.
There were some amazing vendors at the show too, we had a lot of time to talk to other and they were all really nice, talented folks. I will link a couple of their online stores at the bottom, maybe pop over and check them out.
The only signs I saw were along the road right in front of us, I heard several people that did stop by say they had no idea we were out there. I had a friend stop by and she thought we were inside the mall so she looked inside for awhile and there must not of been any signs in there because she had to call me to find out we were behind the mall.
I did scrape by and made my money back but no profit was made.
All in all these are some reasons you should try to research a show before you agree to do it. First year shows, in my experience, are usually a bust. Advertising is key, ask the promoter what advertising they are going to do before signing up. And just as it is for everything business related, location is key!
