Setting Up Our Own Shop

This weekend is the initial opening of our very own little shop. We decided to open one so that we had a place to show and store all our handcrafted items on a more permanent basis. Granted, April really isn’t a good time to setup a shop in the central-west Florida area as most of the customers will be heading back north for the late spring and summer months but when fall comes around they will be heading back and by then we hope to have a little bit of a following. Flea Markets are not the best places to have a crafts shop as most people come for antiques and inexpensive used goods. However, there are a couple of handcraft artists here and with some of the surrounding flea markets closing up we hope to have more here.

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This flea market is also full-time, permanent kind of place. We looked at the Flea Market in Lake City but they do not allow any kind of permanent shop as it owned by the Columbia County Fairgrounds people an everyone has to move for the entire month that the Fair is in town. You could bring in your mobile shop for only $100 a month all the other months and keep it parked within the grounds. Of course, you will need a generator for lights and air condition. There is not a lot of shade on their grounds either. Here at the Chiefland Farmer’s Flea Market there are lots of old oak trees to help keep the booths shady and cooler longer into the day. I found a booth-and-a-half for only $144 a month already set up with tables, peg-boards on the three of the walls and a wall of shelves. We had to come in a paint the shelves and pegboards to spruce it up a little and paint the back door as it was looking kind of moldy. Some of the monthly vendors have a large chain fence going across the front unless they spent a little money to have the booth framed in with windows and a doors. The market gets to keep whatever renovations you do to your booth The prices listed are $103 for one booth, $206 to 2 booths, $262 for 3 booths and $350 for 4 booths. The other vendors are only charged $12/day for Saturday and Sunday with Fridays free. The couple who run it are here on Wednesday for maintenance and there is a security guard to lives in the RV park next store that patrols at night.

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When we are finally able to move onto our land in Old Town my commute will be reduced down from an hour to an hour and a half to only about 20 to 30 minutes. I’m am really looking forward to that because this getting a full tank of gas almost every other day is really cutting into our profits. But, hey, you do what ya gotta do to move ahead. We are really looking forward to this adventure working out here. Check out the pictures below of our booth on the first day.

As a sidebar, we have put a deposit on a trailer frame being built here in Lake City, Florida. I told the guy to take his time as I don’t have a way to bring it to my brothers house so that he can build me a distinctive mobile shop we can use at all these major craft vendor events. The trailer frame will be 8-1/2 by 10 with a removable hitch in the front and he is only charging my $1400 and including the 4 jacks to hold up each of the corners when it is parked. I am working on the inside plans. More on this later.

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For now if you are in the Levy County Florida Area anytime during the weekends we hope you will come on by and see our little place on the yellow row in booth 4 across from “The Leather Man” shop. We will be in Branford, Florida on April 13th for the Suwannee River Catfish Festival and in the booth Friday and Sunday. And we are still planning on participating at the Florida Folk Festival during Memorial Day weekend in White Springs, Florida, so the booth will be closed the whole time.