Valla Market 7 August 2010

A day out at the market on Saturday 7 August 2010. (Bonnie, Deb & Kerry)

It is certainly what they say about that early bird - I arrived at the market at 7.15am, a little later than expected and found our stall position would be at the back of the micro stall marquee (shared with 4 other old and new friends). We made the most of this & used the back of the stall to put up our clothes rack and hoped that would give people some room to move as they got a better look at the garments. Funny how difficult it can be to lay out a display when you're not used to it.
Luckly Bonnie had a huge collection of coat hangers & these came in really handy for our display. I practiced my folding skills but they certainly still need some polishing! (it's the little things that are so easy to overlook!) Sales were very poor but we did cover our stall fee (phew !) and more importantly gained some really valuable input about the products.

We also met with a few new potential MiiMi Creations members and supporters which really made the whole day worthwhile.

Learning on the day: our position in the marquee (at the back) wasn't great at all - We really needed a better position where people can see what we're producing without having to come all the way into the 'den'.

* It is very difficult to get the point across about this being an Aboriginal owned organisation - despite all of the signage, logos and (as you can see in the pic with me) MiiMi banner, people want to see the producers - food for thought.

Possibly the fabric that we've made cushion covers & aprons from needs to be a little more robust - however, perhaps this defeats the purpose of the 'outlet' line ? not sure. Our pricing for this market was a little out - a lot of stalls have imported stock from asia making the value of our hand made and printed stock decrease - I believe this is an issue across markets everywhere. We need to come up with ways to help people understand the authenticity of the product - some ideas brewing here... All in all though a great day for learning and discussion