Tips for Your Antique Booth Reopening
The store our vintage booth is in was closed for weeks. Leading up to the store closing, customers were in panic mode and holding tight to their wallets (they weren’t spending money.) When customers don’t spend money, small businesses don’t make sales. It was a tough time because as a business, we still had expenses yet were making no sales. Sad day. Scary day.
Our governor reopened retail stores and the antique store reopened May 1st. Therefore, my vintage booth opened!
It was exciting to reopen yet it was stressful because we immediately needed to make a profit. It also felt weird to jump back in after taking over a month off. I did do something to prep during my time at home and that certainly helped!
Here’s a few tips that have really helped me reopen my antique booth.
Prep Now
Sure, enjoy some Netflix during this time when life is slower! But continue to work hard. I went through my workroom and priced anything and everything that needed to be priced. I did this long before our governor reopened retail stores. I wanted to be ready!
Get Creative
I remember the early days of my business being so creative with what I could do only using $10. It’s time to revisit those days. Grab your scissors and some extra fabric. See what you can make or repair and resell! Creativity can not only build up bank accounts but it can set you apart from other vendors.
Refresh
Speaking of standing out in a mall among many other vendors, REFRESH! If your booth isn’t open yet, begin now thinking about what you can do to add a “freshness” to your booth space. This could be “new” items you dug out from storage or pops of fabric for a new color theme. Soon after the space opens I would recommend (if you feel comfortable) going by and fluffing your booth.
Quick Visits
But don’t stay long! Yes, you heard me.. now isn’t the time to spend hours in your booth space. Your customers are still staying safe and hopefully social distancing. This means you need to get out of the booth ASAP to make room for them to feel comfortable shopping. Trust me – there have been many weekends I’ve spent hours in the booth meeting our customers face to face and making sales but now is not the time to do that.
Don’t Drop Your Prices
Keep those prices as is. Remember some families got a stimulus check and they’re willing to make large purchases. Many are wanting to help small local business with that money. Don’t sell yourself short. Within days of us reopening I sold a large item at full price, paid for in cash.
Build Up
Make sure your booth is fully stocked. Remember it’s been months since folks have been able to browse the antique store. I brought in a bunch of painted frames (painted during my stay at home) and nearly all of them sold within a few days. STOCK IT UP!!
Rethink
We’ve all had plenty of time for thinking. Aaron and I have spent many hours talking over how I run this business. I’m going back into this making some changes (BIG and small) on how I do things and what it looks like. I encourage you to step back and reevaluate your business. Do you need a larger space? Smaller space? Do you need to reorganize how you spend your time? Are you making money? Is it worth your time? Does it bring you joy? Do you love what you’re selling? Does your business need a facelift? What does that look like? This looks different for all of us.
Hopefully we’ll all be back in business soon. I truly hope his blog post has helped any of you who. might be in the antique business. Thank you for stopping by my blog today!
8 Comments
Amy Carney
I really appreciate this post! This weekend I went out of State to pick up some new items for my booth since here in California things are still mostly closed! I’ve been thinking a lot about what the next several months will look like in our antique mall! Thanks for the inspiration!
Karlee Bowman
Amy, thank you so much for reading this post! I hope it helps!!
Dolores
Thanks Karlee for all the good ideas. 😊👌🌺🌻
Karlee Bowman
You’re so welcome!
Cat
Great post Karlee!
Karlee Bowman
Thank you!
Claudia
I love you booth. I travel 6 hours. It was worth it. I cannot wait to do it again. I loved everything you had. 😍😍😍
Karlee Bowman
Wow, that means so much to me. Thank you!