Holiday markets hard work, but it pays off big for small retailers
Many hope to make significant portion of their annual revenue
NEW YORK — Even through rain, snow and single-digit wind chills, it’s a 38-day adrenaline rush.
That’s how Julie Siegmund feels about spending the cold weeks at the end of the year selling her jewelry at an open-air holiday market, a time when she brings in up to 80 percent of her annual sales. Other than a short break here and there, she’s at her booth in Manhattan’s busy Union Square Park nine hours a day from mid-November to Christmas Eve.
“Toward the end you’re exhausted, but that’s when the real money comes in and you never want it to end,” says Siegmund, who has been at the market for 12 years selling earrings, necklaces and bracelets under the name Carnelian Knoll.
At the holiday markets that pop up annually, many of the booths are staffed by artisans hoping to make a significant portion of their revenue or to get visibility that will translate into sales other times of the year. But the vagaries of the weather can be a big factor for these retailers who don’t have four walls and a roof. Although a light snow can put people in the mood to shop, pelting rain or heavy snow, especially on a weekend, can slice into their sales.
Staying warm is an issue, but sellers come prepared, many with heaters. Siegmund wears leggings made for ice fishing, and the bright lights in her booth that shine on her jewelry also help keep her warm.
A wool cap and a fleece jacket are a uniform of sorts for Stephen Duffy, who holds court at a corner booth near the entrance to the Union Square subway stop. He’s been at the market for more than 20 years, and also sells his work — drawings of New York landmarks and scenes, animals, people, places he’s visited — on a Greenwich Village street during the warmer months.
Business this season has been better than last year, when he recalls weather keeping people home and his sales falling 20 percent. But when it’s busy, he says he has a good time.
“I get to hear a lot of stories,” he says, and gets orders for custom work. People ask for portraits, or, in the case of one couple, for Duffy to sketch the view from their Manhattan apartment during a full moon.
Among the food vendors at the Union Square market, Fatty Sundays gives away samples of its chocolate-covered pretzels as shoppers stream by. The company, which has been at the market since 2012, raised money through Kickstarter to pay for its first appearance since renting a booth for the season costs upward of $10,000.
But the company made a profit that year, and now selling at the market “more than pays for itself,” co-founder Ali Zmishlany says.
Zmishlany notices a pattern among shoppers as the season progresses.
“The first couple of weeks they’re trying us out,” she says. “The last two to three weeks are the busiest as they get going buying gifts.”