Last Trades to the Holiday

We gave another swap meet a go at Imbil/Mary Valley – beautiful place and pleasant people also among the other traders but not a lot of buyers… apparently the signs were stolen by garage salers in the town!! So no one knew about the swap… not sure what to think as some punters told us that there had been signs all over the place and further afield for at least the preceding week. Maybe memories are short in the regions.
Anyway we headed home and left the van and trailer at Fernvale ready for the markets on Sunday where we did well as we always do at Fernvale. Not sure why as there is competition for both our stuff. It might have something to do with the way in which we engage our customers… see the picture below.

From The Market Operation Warts and All

The next weekend we did an Antique and Collectable Fair at Ipswich – in the following pic you will see us in our antique and collectable fair personas!

From The Market Operation Warts and All

It looks a bit bleak from the picture, the corrugated iron and all but once inside the hall the place was full of stalls and traders and customers. We did OK this time too but always seem to come a bit short of our target. Mind you – some traders complained of doing less than half their usual take. We followed up with Fernvale again. Have to keep the bank happy while we are away.

I mentioned our forays into antique and collectable auctions – well the good part is that we are starting to sell a fair bit of what we have bought. It is significant though that the auctioneers make comments like – …”…10 years ago this would have fetched 10 times that amount…” It seems that the antique business is harder and less lucrative than it has been. The Sinclair’s impeccable timing again. What keeps us going at markets is Al’s stuff, car parts and old machinery as well as old and unusual tools. This business of 2 excursions a weekend is unsustainable for me though – turns my working week into a 7 days business.

Advertisements