With the pending holiday season just right around the corner. We all start thinking about shopping. One of the best ways to support America is to support local businesses. Well there is no better way to do that than to attend trade shows.
This past weekend I attended the First Monday Trade Days in Canton, TX. First Monday Trade Days are held Thursday - Sunday prior to the first Monday of each month, year around. It is one of the largest shows in the state. You can find vendors that sale anything you want from food to antiques to furniture to boutique clothes to salvage finds. If you go plan to spend the entire day if not the entire weekend shopping.
My goal was not to actually purchase anything (although that didn't happen). I was doing "recon"! I wanted to see what was selling, what wasn't, what was being offered, what wasn't, and the price at which people had those items listed. I plan to visit a few more over the next few weeks to see what is in my market. My hopes in doing that is I will be able to pick certain items that will sale thus making a good weekend at a trade show.
I by no means saw everything at First Monday Trade Days but I did see a lot of it. I only saw one booth that was selling smaller items. I saw a lot of people selling rustic furniture and end grain cutting boards. So I know not to go with those items as my primary source of income. I can still take them but I will be prepared to not sell those.
When I do my recon, I really get as much information as possible. I look at the construction of how something was built, I look at price & what they are offering for that price. I ask a lot of questions such as what is it made out of, what parts did they make and what parts did they purchase (I.e. Table legs, chairs, etc.). If that information I will be better armed to compare their product with my product.
I hope you will do your homework and join me at the trade shows!