No lemmings allowed on planet FOXY!
Warning: I am stepping on my soap box~!
An interesting aspect of this past weekend’s show in Arkansas was that it was held at an outdoor mall. Partially this was a great thing because of the mall security already built-in to the environment…artisans did not need to worry about their booths being vandalized overnight. And initially I thought it would be good for business as well since people who did not know about the festival might discover it when they arrived at the mall…already in the “shopping” mindset.
However, in Rogers Arkansas an interesting phenomenon occurred. People shopped at Dillards, Eddie Bauer and other established retailers….and did not purchase from the crafters and artisans lining the streets in front of these shops. It was such a mystery to my booth neighbor why she was not selling her handcrafted jewelry when there seemed to be a steady stream of shoppers walking past that she went inside Dillards to see if anyone was buying in there. And lo and behold…gathered around the jewelry counter were gaggles of women buying Fossil and other national brands.
Back out on the street, crafters were uniting and chanting “No lemmings allowed!” (It wasn’t like chanting actually…more like muttering under our breath!) Which leads me to the point of this blog….
Why should consumers favor products from crafters in an art fair rather than products from established retailers? Here’s a quick list I can think of without trying too hard at all:
- Karma and positive energy. Crafters passionately create their products individually by hand in a studio or other friendly environment. National retailers sell products made without passion by workers in factories.
- Buy local, support the local economy. Crafters at art fairs in your local community are from the United States, and probably from your state or town. If you spend your dollars with local business, it stays in your community.
- Handcrafted=Special. Products you buy from crafters are one-of-a-kind, unique, and special. No one else will have one just like yours. This makes you special. Don’t you want to be special?
- Better quality, lower cost, higher overall value. Products from crafters are often made better because artisans pay attention to detail. And it seems like a contradiction, but products from crafters are often less money than similar products from national retailers because we don’t have all that overhead built into the cost structure. All we have to pay for is our home.
What are you waiting for? I challenge each of you reading today’s blog to make your next purchase from an artisan…check out www.etsy.com if you need a place to start!
