A Rainy Market

 Yes, tomorrow looks like a wet day, though there might be a break from 9 to noon so that will work great for those of us who can still go. I debated becoming a "fair weather market" person this season, as taking the popup and weights is a lot harder on my body, but I think I'll do it anyway. There is a certain comraderie on the wet days and the bills still need to be paid.

Things are heavy around the blocks. There seems to be a lot of shock about the fee increases, and many that I spoke to on Opening Day, a glorious weather day, were not selling well at all. One woman sold one card. One man sold nothing until way past noon, and then very little. I did well, and others did too, but it was not widespread. Mostly the first few weeks are about the food booths, anyway, as people come again for their favorites and spend their money there. I looked back at last year and I was making more, but it's too soon to assess my own trends for the season. 

Virtually all of our customers are feeling the economic pinch that is worldwide, still unfolding, and scary as can be. Tourism is down at least 25% and will be impacted for years. Costs are up for every craft, if materials are even available. Metal costs for jewelers are fluid, but investing in silver and gold must be hard when you don't know what your sales will be like. Everything is up. My costs are up 25% for materials, inks, and art supplies. 

I believe the market is making a serious mistake pushing more of the problem onto members. It is the job of leadership and management to find ways to support the members, not just the staff. Increasing our sales with fresh new and well-done promotions is a no-brainer. We're still using things from 2018 in our published ads and promotions. Depending on some unending supply of new crafters is not a strategy that will work when they are at the same time being priced out of selling. It will only take a few weeks of bad sales to make a person quit or just come less frequently. Gas costs are going to be a huge problem for people.  

And Holiday Market costs going up another 10% is just not going to have the desired effect. Even I may considering skipping weekends, though to be honest I don't know if I can afford to. If my sales go down consistently over the season though, I may have to. A half-empty hall is going to be visible evidence of a decline that we won't be able to tell shiny stories about. It was always a risk to take on the extra hall and now the Atrium. What it looked like was that a lot of standards were relaxed to bring in a lot of the new booths, and that erosion takes away what makes us different from any of the many other markets and venues that shoppers can access. They don't need us. We need them. People noticed that we tried to force out Bill Sullivan's artists and authors event. It was a poor reflection on our community care aspect. 

Having higher quality and that direct connection between the maker and appreciator is our strength. That is what is meaningful to people and why they love us. This will just become harder to keep in play if we grow too large and disconnected from that strength that has sustained us through many hard times. We mean something to people. That is what we have to nurture and we absolutely must draw on our experience and history to be consistent with that. New is not always better. 

I have work to do today so can't elaborate on the poor management of the first market of the season...the smoke in the food court is something that should not have happened. It was blowing right into the customers' faces...did no one remember that our prevailing winds are from the west? That's true nearly every week. This was a big issue with DeFrisco back in the day, and they had to put in high smokestacks and do other mitigating things, plus be in a location that minimized harm. These are things that are not "lost" to history. They live in our memories of all of the problem-solving we have done over the fifty-seven seasons and we have plenty of people who hold those memories. They just feel silenced and disrespected so they don't bother to try to help and become targets for retaliation. 

We can't afford this poor management. I know some are stuck in the sunk cost fallacy and think we can't make a change, but we must make a change. We are paying for excellent management in our salaries and benefits. We deserve to have it. This has gone beyond any historical times when we wanted to retain staff to the degree that we put up with things going wrong. Way too many things are going wrong. You don't have to believe me...do your own survey. 

And thank you in advance for coming tomorrow. It is almost never worse than the predictions...every market day is worth experiencing. If I had the time I would have written one of those glowing posts about the enriching, satisfying experience of last week's sunny market. There were so many wonderful moments. 

It is such a joy to have our market. I know I will still believe that tomorrow evening at 7:00 when I am finally finished and can sit down and get into some dry socks and comfy clothes so I can fall asleep in the recliner. I have become a person who takes naps. I am sure I will need one.