Putting together my shop

I have taken the leap and signed my contract, picked my booth, paid my fees and I'm officially a vendor at Cross Roads. Wow! Now how do I set up this blank canvas to best showcase my fused glass pendants? Each piece is unique. I don't have much money to purchase "store" type displays. What could I do? 


Let's start with what I know. The space is 10 foot deep and 15 foot wide, purple sponge painted and has 2 sets of flood lights. I have permission to use an extra counter that was floating around Cross Roads. The clothing rack is also available for use. Ok, now to figure out how I want my booth to look. I had thoughts of walls of squares that each could hold one pendant on a bust, a victorian sitting room, a rustic look and a hundred others.





So many ideas and no money to create any of them. I knew I would need lots of lighting. Curio cabinets, china hutches those things have lighting in them. I needed to get the product up where people could see it. Off to Craigslist....Wow, found several pieces but they were way out of my price range. Guess that idea was a bust. I guess I just have to look at what I already have available to me. I found some small tables, an old cast iron sewing machine in a cabinet and part of a hutch. Well, it's a start.  My mom offered a small Barrister bookcase and Grandma's lighted curio style cabinet.  Sweet, I'm on my way.  I found a table with a drawer that would fit under Grandma's cabinet and painted it black to match the cabinet. A beautiful focal point!  I checked with mom to see if I could drill holes and put nails in the bookcase, I was told to go for it.  So I added a couple strands of white Christmas lights.  The bookcase would fit on top of the hutch base. Two displays created.  My mother also offered me a jewelry armoire that would hang on the wall. I accepted her generous offer. Three displays! Things are coming together.

Ok, I'm off to a good start, but I have over 100 pendants to display. At this point I can only show about 25 of them. I need more display ideas. I have a lot of purple wall space. I know! Wearable art! Picture frames! Off to the box in the attic! It is full of old frames. I didn't even take the pictures out of them. I covered the glass with paper and glued cardboard busts to them. I did buy a few of the segmented frames at Walmart and put scrapbooking paper in them and stick on hooks.  Some garland (my mom's great idea) across the back wall to hide outlet boxes. A tree decal, a couple small wall shelves, some decorative elements and we have a boutique not just a shop or booth. 

When creating your booth, use the same creativity you put into your products. Your space doesn't have to look like everyone elses. It should reflect you and your products. Work with what you have. You can always add or remove display items, rearrange them or repurpose them. Make it what you want, what you love, what you feel comfortable with.

Part 4 will be my experience as a full time vendor at Cross Roads.



Part 1- My first visit to Cross Roads
Part 2- Opening a shop at Cross Roads, is it really possible?
Part 3- Putting together my shop
Part 4- I did it! You can too!