The group shop is opening again . . . sort of.

[Vinca]

The owner has taken quite a hit and can't afford to hire anyone to help her. She'll be a one woman show manning the place for only a portion of the day for a portion of the week. Another day is set aside for dealers to restock and clean. I went in yesterday and cleaned my booths and checked things out. Everyone has to wear a mask, 1 person per aisle, arrows on the floor, etc., etc., etc. Fortunately I live in an area where it's uncommon to see unmasked people and the shop is in Vermont which has about the best numbers in the nation for stopping the virus. I'm hopeful. Now I'm going to have to figure out where to get stuff to sell. So far no garage sales or bazaars, my favorite haunts. Auctions are online for the most part and when the whole world is bidding against you it's hard to get a good deal. Time to investigate the long forgotten stashes and see if there's anything good. I'm also going to make some masks to make a couple of bucks. It'll work out eventually.

[samnsara]

1. how are people feeling about buying handmade items? I normally sell my crafts at a Farmers Market

..but the Market wont open this year. I weave pine needle baskets and i do very well but this year no market so i need to find another outlet. I may reopen my Etsy store. Are people feeling comfortable buying items that have been handled extensively? Cuz I cant weave them with gloves on. Do you isolate your handmade goods for a certain time before offering them to the public?

[mgardener]

2. I have no problem

I wash my hands. Wash after grocery store, etc. Have sanitizer in the car
If I but something I can leave it for a couple of days.
I am more concerned about droplets in the air while in stores.

[Vinca]

3. I don't usually sell handmade anything, just thought it might be useful to the shop and help me

with my booth rental fee a little. As it is, I'm having second thoughts. Today I went to the local, most popular, plant supplier and couldn't help notice all the handmade masks on people. It seems everyone with a sewing machine is churning them out, so maybe it's a waste of my time anyway. Wish I knew how to make baskets. That's a neat thing to know how to do.

[TeamPooka]

4. The antique mall I have a booth in reopened over the weekend.

Ventura CA and the place gets a lot of tourist business on the weekend from the folks in Los Angeles.
we are "the country" to them even though we are 90 minutes away.

They asked the dealers to stay away during the weekend to help the occupancy numbers and new store flow of people in aisles.
Dealers have to wear masks while in the place. They are being smart about it.

Owners said they were happy with the number of customers they had. Said it was busy.
they were mostly their regulars who wanted to get out and get back to collecting again.
They had some pent up demand there.

He said they didn't get much of the usual LA tourist traffic though which makes sense with the protests and Covid combo down there.
My booth did $123.00 is sales over the weekend so I was happy with that kind of start after they were closed for two months.

[Vinca]

6. Our shop is also in a touristy area, but so far business has been really slow.

Tourism as a whole has been down in the area for obvious reasons. I did a whopping $40 over the weekend, but I'm going to stick it out for a few months - probably taking a loss - because I want the shop to survive. Our biggest sales are during foliage season (it's southern Vermont), so I hope to still be there then. Kind of sad really. I can only go in there once a week now to take care of the booth and I miss chatting with everyone about our finds. I hope someday everything goes back to normal.

[TeamPooka]

5. Oh and I noticed some estate sales have started up again this weekend. Masks required.