Craft Hatch Incubator Market
Set up: A 10am set up time is great, so you get a little bit of a sleep in. This market is indoors (above the City Library) and supplies you with a 1.3m table and chairs. You might also be lucky enough to be situated in front of a wall, which is great if you want to hang stuff on or lean things against. You can see the wall I speak of to the left in the picture above.
If you are selling clothes, you’ll still need to bring your own clothes rack. Of course, table clothes and display stuff is BYO too.
Cost per stall: $3o.
Traffic flow: My stall was on April 10th 2010. It wasn’t a cold day but it was raining off and on. There was quite a steady flow of people in the morning, died off a little around 12.30 – 1 (lunchtime) and then picked up again later in the day.
Demographic: Aged between 20 – 40. Mostly females looking for something special for themselves, but a lot of gift buyers. These people were not looking for the latest fashion, rather, something original and unique. Be prepared for a lot of browsers. However, if you can sell your product to them you can always turn a browser into a customer.
Type of crafts: All handmade. Jewelry is the most popular. Other popular crafts also include, accessories, home wares and stationary.
Is it worth it? I sold 9 items in a six hour day. It covered the price of the stall and lunch, with a bit of profit. I’m not a talker, and I prefer to let my jewelry pieces speak for themselves, but I am sure I could have sold more if I engaged with the browsers a little more.
All in all, I thought it was worth it. Reasons? Cheap stall fee. Easy set up. Comfortable environment. Constant traffic flow.
Not so secret tip: A good price bracket is between $10 – $25. Most people are happy to spend this much without thinking too much.
Contributed by: adelle
Every Saturday and Sunday of the year
60 Rose Street
Fitzroy, Melbourne
Set up: Starts at 9am so you get a good 2 hours to set up your stall. Make sure you do get there at 9am, if you are relying on the market supplied tables and chairs. The market supplies you with various shaped wooden boxes which you can stack together and use as tables. You can see these in the picture above.
They’re pretty dirty so you will definitely need to cover them with your own fabrics and table cloths. The great thing about them though, is you can stack and re stack and come up with some pretty interesting displays.
The market is separated into 2 sections, one being outdoors and one indoors. You can’t nominate which section you’d prefer in your application so you are allocated a spot on arrival. This is pretty annoying. Do I need some shade? Or don’t I? Advice. Arrive prepared for both.
Cost per stall: $60
Traffic flow: This market is highly advertised and is becoming pretty darn popular. Traffic flow is steady all day, except for around lunchtime, as per usual. I had a stall there on a Sunday, which apparently has less traffic than a Saturday. The weather was pretty warm, so I think that helped traffic flow as well. General advice from other stall holders is try and book a stall for Saturday. The wait might just be worth it.
Demographic: 20 – 50 year olds. I think the women to men ratio was about even. Lots and lots of tourists.
Type of crafts: Jewelry, clothes, stationary, home wares, vintage stuff too.
Is it worth it? This was my first market and I learnt heaps and heaps about what people like and don’t like, as far as products. For me, this market was worth it in that sense but I also split my stall cost with another stall holder, so that was only $30. In my opinion, if you are starting out, try and find a cheaper market before you hit Rose Street. You’ll learn a lot about what people like and you can cater your stock with a little more insight.
Once you know what sells and what doesn’t, hit Rose Street (preferably on a Saturday)!
Not so secret tip: LOTS of tourists visit here. A lot are looking for a ‘Melbourne Momento’. I’m not saying sell ‘I heart Melbourne’ t-shirts, but it might pay to keep the tourist in mind when you’re designing your stock or display.
Contributed by: adelle
Every second Thursday night of the month
6- 10pm
229 Chapel Street, Prahran
Set up: Set up starts at 5pm. But you probably won’t need that long at all to set up. You only have a card table of space, so don’t bring all your stock (if you have a lot). You get one card table that has been specifically allocated to you, so it is not first come, first serve. You also get one chair. If you have someone coming to keep you company it will be a VERY tight squeeze. And good luck finding another chair for them.
You also get a lamp on your table. You may also be unlucky enough to get one of the coloured lamps which shines a lovely RED LIGHT all over your stock, so I suggest you bring your own lamp that is white and BRIGHT!)
Cost per stall: Free
Traffic flow: My stall happened to fall on a day that was freezing cold! However, Revolver was still jam packed full of people. The market section is at the front of the upstairs part, which kind of goes unnoticed by people walking in and heading straight to the bar. Traffic flow through the market section wasn’t that great. People seemed to stumble across the market, without ever knowing it was there.
Demographic: Aged between 20 – 45. Prahran locals who come to Revolver to drink, eat and hang out with friends. They are not there to buy market wares. They are there to spend money on beer, not buy a one of a kind, handmade pillow case! The local girls are pretty trendy and buy their clothes from Witchery and jewelry from Sportsgirl. They’re certainly not looking for something unusual or unique.
Type of crafts: Jewelry, t-shirts, stationary.
Is it worth it? The venue is dark, has lots of beer, lots of talking and loud music. The perfect environment for a bar – not an art and craft market. I now know why it’s free. With not one sale made that night, I won’t be back.
Not so secret tip: If your product is super cheap and is very NOW, then you might do well. Just make sure you have a proper lamp where people can actually SEE your stuff.
Contributed by: adelle
Blackbird Market
Every second Saturday of the month (but not over Winter)
11am- 4pm
The Worker’s Club
51 Brunswick St, Fitzroy
Set up: Set up starts at 10am but get there EARLIER! I arrived at 10am and there was already a line of stall holders down the street. The earlier you get there, the more choice of location you have. The worker’s club has lots of rooms, so you want to get one of the front rooms with good lighting and high traffic.
Cost per stall: $40 for a card table (it’s actually a little smaller than a card table!) $60 for a larger spot.
Traffic flow: Great location for a market! The morning starts out a little slow as most people who visit are still in bed. But it slowly picks up around 1ish, as lots of people come here for lunch.
Demographic: 20 – 35 year olds. I think I noticed more women than men, who seemed to be tagging along with their girlfriends. The ladies are all quite individually dressed, all looking for something original and unique. Lots of gift buyers.
Type of crafts: Jewelry, vintage clothing, home wares.
Is it worth it? I can’t wait to book this market again! Although next time, I will pay the extra $20 and get a bigger spot. The small card table was way too small. Luckily the person next to me didn’t turn up and I could spread out – but that won’t happen all the time. I will also get there much earlier and secure a spot in one of the front rooms. I ended up with a squashy spot in between a door way and the kitchen, which wasn’t ideal. But I still made lots of sales, for a cold day with a bad spot.
Not so secret tip: Lots of customers have blogs. Be sure to give them your business card!
Contributed by: adelle
Third Sunday of every month
10am – 4pm
Abbotsford Convent
1 St Heliers Street
Abbotsford
Set up: Set up at this market depends on the time you’ve been allocated. Staggered set up times prevents traffic congestion around the grounds. The grounds are huge and depending on where your market stall is situated you can either park in the $4 all day car park or surrounding areas. This is an outdoor market where you need to supply everything. That includes, your own tables, shade etc. Most spaces are 3m x 3m.
Cost per stall: Casual: $80 per market
Semi permanent: $70 per market
Permanent: $60 per market
Traffic flow: The grounds at the Abbotsford convent make a beautifully relaxing setting for a weekend market. There are really no quiet times throughout the day here, however, there are different flows of people as the day progresses. The morning starts with hundreds of families with small children, cyclists and strangely, people with greyhounds. As the afternoon approaches, young couples, girlfriends having an afternoon lunch and young people abound.
Demographic: This market is definitely a family day out. You’ll get all sorts of individuals looking at your wares from older ladies, to young ladies, mums, dads, kids and dogs!
Type of crafts: You name it. It’s there.
Is it worth it? I’ve held a stall at the market twice now and I can definitely say, that your location makes a huge difference. Try and get a stall at the entrance to the market, near the car park. Great traffic flow here and no one has spent any money yet. Not sure if I could stand the elements come Winter, but I will surely be back in the Spring. This has been my most successful market yet. I think I owe that to the diverse range of people there and the sheer amount of people visiting.
Not so secret tip: If you design products for older women and/or children, this market is a gold mine!
Contributed by: adelle