Provincial Craft Wholesale Show is coming soon

I'm trying to figure out my work schedule for the rest of March today. I dropped off the Craft Council shop order on Friday so today is a fresh start on new work.

The next major event in Elfshot's Calendar is the Provincial Craft Wholesale Show on March 21-22, 2009 at the Holiday Inn in St. John's. It won't take a full two weeks to prepare for, but the production work that I do now will fit around that weekend. I have the wholesale order for Korea and a request from Terra Nova National Park for a Dorset Palaeoesimo Harpoon reproduction. If I can have some of those pieces done in time for the show, then they can help fill out the display.

Wholesale shows are a little different from retail shows in that you don't need to have product on hand for buyers to take away with them from the show. You have examples of your product and take orders. Its also a place to introduce new products to your customers. I have Fibre Optic brooches in mind for this years new jewelry, but I also like to have a new artifact reproduction in the line up. I need to come up with something fast. Usually I experiment leading up to the Fine Craft and Design Fair and get a sense there of what new product is working and what isn't. The new product that I introduce at the wholesale show has already been tested out on retail customers shopping for Christmas gifts. But I didn't attend the Fine Craft and Design Fair this year so I don't have that information.

The only wholesale show that I do is the one here in St. John's. Most of my wholesale orders come from existing customers outside of the show, but I still think its important to let people know that I'm still alive and producing. Its very inexpensive to attend and I always get a few orders that I wouldn't otherwise know about, but I mostly do it to keep my face out there. I think that buyers need to know that you are a reliable producer.At the wholesale show I'll be participating on the panel of one of the producer seminars called "Cultural Product Development". Its description; "There are many opportunities to develop culturally based products for sale to tourist and other markets. In this seminar we will discuss some of these opportunities and how craftspeope can profit from them." If you wish to participate in the seminar it runs from 11:00am-12:30pm on March 21, 2009 - Registration information is here.

Photo Credits: Erick Walsh
Photo Caption:
Top, Elfshot Acrylite Point of Sale display loaded with Product
Bottom, Elfshot Banner