Back to the Athens Booth

We weren't happy with the way we were using our space at Athens--the problem was there was too much empty space. Empty space means a sales opportunity missed. But how to rearrange to allow more opportunity to display and sell?

We looked around our buildings for furniture that could help with our problem and came up with a china cabinet and a shelf. We loaded them up yesterday morning along with a coat tree, a wicker doll's sled, some lamps, some more vintage clothing and 4 totes. Larry said (as he always does), "I don't know where you're going to put all this stuff." And I replied (as I always do), "I think most of it will fit. What doesn't. we'll bring back home."

This is how it looks now (you can see the last arrangement in this post). I had to snap pictures in a hurry since the manager graciously let us stay 15 minutes after closing so I could finish up.

This is the shelf we added. It's right in front, first thing people see as they turn left in the store. While it blocks the view into the booth behind it, the Hoosier cabinet and china cabinet are still visible above it, and the left side view is clear. I grouped items on the shelves a little loosely: serving plates, cake plates and carriers serving bowls and mixing bowls, and miscellaneous containers.

Here's the top of the shelf: the wicker doll sled, crystal lamps, funky fish and a Japanese black vase.

And inside the booth, a look at the china cabinet we added; I filled it with milk glass that shows well against the dark wood.

I put the coat rack just inside the booth and hung it with a variety of tops, dresses, scarves and coats. Vintage clothing is selling well here; 50% of what I have brought in has sold, so I added a little more.

Only a few changes made in this part of the booth; I moved the silver coffee urn to the tabletop, added a yellow cream and sugar/salt and pepper set for color.

I love, love, love this orange retro lamp. I would keep it if I had a place for it! I found the lamp in Romney, WV and the shade here in Ripley, about 200 miles apart, but don't they look right together?

To go with the retro lamp I added black and white: floral plate, black vase and tea set. For fun I also added the retro clock above the lamp and the Vegas blue glitter clock. The tea set is resting on a Dos Equus beer sign. I wished I had a mod painting of some sort to replace the Blue Girl, but it will have to do for now.

View from one booth into the next (we have two, side by side). Still open enough, but we were able to add a lot more merchandise and that was the goal.

We did end up taking a few things home: a hobby horse and a stool had to go, but both can be stored and put into a booth later as space opens up.

I was well pleased with our work yesterday, and only wish we'd had another 30 minutes for me to tweak it a bit more. With this work, there is always something else that I want to do, rearrange, make it look prettier/more visible or whatever. But for now, I am happy with the way it looks.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.