advice needed re ideal spot to have table at craft fairs

[cupcake]

Calling all you lovely experienced CF folk, I need some advice.

I am about to send off my form and cheque to book a slot at a local Xmas crafts fair in November. I've never been there before and don't know the setup or venue. I am also relatively new to crafts fairs, I have only ever had a stall at two events so far (with another one coming up next Sunday) There are 2 options for where to go and I can't decide, I need you to help me.

The options are Main Hall for £40 or Upstairs Hall for £22. The main hall obviously puts you in full view of all visitors hence the price, whereas the upstairs hall I would imagine has a smaller footfall because it's out of the way, but I am given to understand there are quite a few stalls up there. Do I save money and go upstairs, thereby risking making fewer sales but having to sell less anyway to recoup my costs, or spend more money to be in the thick of things but hope that I do actually sell quite a bit to make my money back.

What would you do? All advice welcome.

Thank you

[craftyfoxni]

in may my friend and i did a big 3 day event, we opted for the save money bit and went upstairs and was sorry from the moment we arrived a lot of people just came into the very large hall and just wandered around downstairs and didn't even bother to come up the stairs for a look so we have already looked into doing this fair again and booking downstairs and hopefully the extra outlay will be worth it

[cupcake]

Thank you Craftyfox and everyone else who's voted so far. Looks like I should bite the bullet and pay the extra to be in the thick of it. The money goes to a good local charity so I should see it as a worthwhile donation even if I don't do so well.

Think I will go for the main hall.

[cupcake]

Thanks to everyone who voted, it is an overwhelmingly unanimous vote for paying the extra to be downstairs. I have hand delivered my cheque today (as we're still reeling from ongoing postal strikes here) so that's that.

[Lilac Moon]

I have only just seen this thread but I would have said the same as everyone else.

[Moonbeam Angel]

downstairs, downstairs, downstairs!!!!!!!!!! you will find that mums with pushchairs, elderly people (or infirm) and disabled will not venture upstairs, even if there is a lift!!!!! (I don't) take it from me (and other crafters I know) we are very wary of booking events with stairs!!!!

[baines]

yep downstairs.

[cupcake]

Thank you, I knew you experienced crafty folks would point me in the right direction

Downstairs it is. I'll let you all know how it goes if you can wait until November to find out LOL!

A friend of mine has booked upstairs, so it will be interesting to see how well he does. Although I can't really compare his stall to mine because we sell very different things.

There's definitely no lift as the organiser said that people with heavy stuff to carry to set up their stalls preferred downstairs as they don't have so far to lug their stuff.

[craftyfoxni]

fingers crossed for a good fair and have a few trial runs on your set up so you can get set up and ready to sell asap (some times other people setting up might see something they like and buy before the rush )

[0103media]

For the price of a round of drinks... downstairs for me too

[Naughty_Angel]

Hi - this is Angela's hubby here. I've laid out many stores in the past and one thing is always key; The counter at which you pay is at the entrance/exit. The reason for this is so that you can set out your offering as soon as the consumer enters [this normally being the product you wish to push] and it remains in the customer's mind as they browse and are tempted a second [and hopefully overwhelming] time as they go to leave - resulting in a sale.

So in short - opposite the entrance.

On the 1st floor thing. There is a reason that most stores have an escalator taking you up and not one bring you down [although since further regulations have been put in place, that has resulted in a down one being installed in newer stores]. In my experience, unless it is any item consumer 'search out' the likelyhood of venturing onto a secondary level is significantly lower than groundfloor browsing.

NOW! To negate everything I have just written, the issue of product and margin also factor. At a craft fair - it is fairly obvious that people who come in will mainly all walk the entire venue - except those who are unable to [be it elderly, infirm or unable - are these your target consumer?] I would take into account your projected turnover at the event. Work out how many more units you would have to sell to recoup the extra rent - is it justifiable? Or reverse the equation and work out if the physical profit you will make will be more just by opting for the lower fee.

I'm sorry I can't give you the answers, but I hope that I've been able to give you the questions you should be asking yourself.

Oh, and have a good day

Steve