Exploiting the expo, cashing in on the celebration, riding the rodeo…

chances are your town’s got some tourist-traffic-building events planned in the months ahead. If you’re really lucky, your shop will be in the midst of the goings-on, like the shop where I volunteer often is.

How to finesse a festival that will draw traffic to your shop

#1 Feature what your fest-goers are likely to be interested in

Tourists will have limited suitcase-space, so a selection of easily-packable, “one size fits all” goods, as in my pin above, is perfect for the art fair we happen to be working with. Your choices may vary: books for a book fair, work-out clothes for a health fair, vintage-looking knick-knacks and clothing for an antique car show.

Window displays must be big, bold, and tempting, if the festival is right out your front door. A subdued and tasteful window will be overlooked. We’ve filled ours with bright print one-size-fits-most sarongs, tunics and caftans, rattan chairs and bright beach totes, and if I could, I’d add a fan to create motion and fairy lights to twinkle (but hey, I’m only allowed to go so far as a volunteer!)

#2 Prepare for it

With the knowledge that a specific event is coming up, you can (through consignment, donation, or by purchase) gather the sort of goods these festival-goers would be looking for.

A non-profit thrift shop could, if the event will be a craft show, gather bins of non-saleable sweaters to sell so that inspired attendees can try their own hand at felting. (Bonus points if the shop has a volunteer who can create branded how-to handouts to motivate purchases of the recycled components!) Or get all those bits and pieces of broken jewelry or stray buttons into baggies for show attendees to try creating their own hand-crafted jewelry.

A home goods/ furniture store might want to sell candles, offer energy-saving tips in a shop brochure, or price those empty picture frames, depending on whether the event is holistic-aimed, an ecological gathering, or an art show.

#3 Don’t let those new friends get away

One of the main reasons for being open during a gathering like this is to allow potential customers to finally stop in and visit your shop. So be sure to capture contact info if they wish to give it (“join our mailing list for future happenings“; have a drawing for a prize), hand out “Keep in Touch” business cards with all your social media, and consider giving BeBack coupons “so you can shop in a more relaxed way in the next week or two.”

and one more tip, just between you and me:

Use these casual browsers as a test market. Watch where they head in your shop, notice what they stop to look at, listen to what they say to each other. A shop full of relaxed, happy strangers is a gold mine for learning whether your layout lends itself to luring them on, whether your rack signage draws a smile, even what it is that catches their eye and makes your shop memorable for future visits.