The Vintage Market Days event has been a thing for years and I have seen their advertisements for venues all over the southeast. This year I decided to try a “new” festival and get out of the Atlanta market. I felt fairly confident that I could do well in any environment that was geared totally around the vintage vibe and Knicknaques Vintage Boutique was instantly approved as a vendor for the VMD in Charleston, SC.
I originally chose a 10×20 booth simply because that is the size I am used to working with at the Cotton Pickin’ Fair, but the more I started to think about it, the more intimidated I became. What if I scale back a bit for my first event here? I mean, I had no idea what kind of area I would be working with. Was there going to be a wall on any side? Was there a way to hang my lights and ladder from the ceiling? I knew nothing and honestly had a very hard time getting information about the event and even less about the space I was working with. I immediately contacted them and asked them to change my booth from a 10×20 to a 10×10. So, yes, I chickened out a bit. It was weeks before I finally got a new contract for the 10×10 booth and I found out at the same time, that this particular event had a change in management. That could be good and bad, but went ahead and signed my contract for the 10×10 booth with someone informing me that they would honor my request for a booth with a wall at the back. I breathed a “small” sigh of relief and began prepping.
I wanted a boho inspired look, using white, gold and green colors with natural rattan and wicker. I had the rattan and wicker in stock at the store and set to work painting a couple dressers and a chair. 
Can you tell I’m obsessed with gold leaf? So pretty, and they both tie in with the look I had in mind. 
This chair came as a last minute thought. She has been in my basement for years and I was ready to see her transform. I had some leftover white faux fur for recovering the seat and decided on gold spray paint for the frame and cane. She is totally glam now and ready for a new home. But, I will be honest and tell you that I will not be disappointed if she doesn’t sell and I have to bring her home!
I felt more ready for this show than any other and moving day came quick. With the help of my fabulous husband, Greg, we had the trailer packed up and ready to go Wednesday night and we left around 7:30 am on Thursday. 
The four hour ride left me plenty of time to plan and to worry. I still had no idea about the 10×10 space I would be working with and was told we had 30 minutes to unload, which is no where near enough time for me to figure out what was going in and what was going to have to go back in the trailer. We got in around 12:30 and found we could leave the truck and trailer right outside while we unloaded everything. 
My booth was so small. I had no way to hang anything from the ceiling and I had NO walls. I was going to have to “make” my own walls using the furniture I had on hand. No big deal…we got this! We managed to cram as much as we could into my little area. 
Maybe a little too crammed, but I was happy with the end result! We finished setting up around 7:30pm and headed for our little Airbnb Whispering Pines cottage in Summerville. Adorable! After a comfortable night’s sleep, we arrived on at our booth around 9:00 am ready to go! The first 25 people in line received a free goody bag and it was super busy until about 2pm. Sales were great and I was struggling to keep up with restocking my sold inventory. My smalls were flying out the door, but my large furniture was staying put.
After closing, we moved some things around and finished restocking in time for the vendors to be treated to a tasty BBQ dinner. We headed back to our cottage and changed clothes to visit Saltwater Cowboys on Shem Creek in Mt Pleasant. They were recommended to us by a customer and their Trash Can Nachos came in a big tin can that they empty onto a plate. So yummy! I had a Pitt Street Lemonade…or two and Greg had a local Sweet Josie beer. We were full and ready to head back to get to bed.
Saturday sales were half of what they were Friday and my furniture was still sitting which is SO very unusual. Normally my furniture is the first to go! But the vendors around me weren’t selling furniture either. 
I marked my dressers way down hoping for some action, but…nothing. I’ll try again tomorrow.
Sunday is always SALE DAY. Make me an offer to keep us from having to load it up and take it back home! Sunday was slower than Saturday and I couldn’t sell my dressers. I did, however, sell my giant wooden lockers and a mid century chair that I never even took out of the trailer. One of the friendly vendors we met, Maureen, saved us from having to load up those lockers and when I brought the doors out of the trailer to show her, she spied my mid century lounge chair. She, thankfully, spared us a little more space❣️ Check out her awesome instagram page at Rustic Attitude.
At 4pm when the event closed, I was feeling much better about trailer space and we set to work breaking down the booth and reloading the trailer. This process normally takes us a few hours and we were on the road to go home by 6pm.
It felt good to sleep in my own bed and I’m looking forward to getting my store back in order. We met some great people at this event, but I am not sure if I will participate in another VMD show. The contract that I signed was very specific about all the vendors at this show being vintage or at least vintage inspired. The gutter company that was highlighted twice on VMD Facebook page and the skin rejuvenation booth just didn’t align with what I thought this show was going to be about. I also feel they had every opportunity to highlight each vendor through Facebook and instagram, but there were only a select few that they chose to post and some of them were advertised more than once. I may look into the Atlanta area shows to see if they are any different.
Stay tuned, but for now only 5 more weeks until the Cotton Pickin’ Fair! Visit my Facebook page Knicknaques Vintage Boutique for more information and updates.
Jayme