Shopkeeping, marketing and promotion

As we edge closer to our soft opening this Saturday (6 June), and to our Open Studio day (next Saturday 13 June), the reality of having a Gallery-Shop is becoming clearer, and is quite exciting.

As I am trying hard not to get so far ahead of myself that I stress myself out, I am pretty much taking a day at a time and finding that works quite well.

Today, hooray, we go the reverse cycle air conditioner installed and the heating worked wonderfully well. Deliciously so in fact, so it is grand to be able to have people visit and know they will be warm as toast.

We approached our local Visitor Information Centre today with our DL cards and they were happy to to have us!  They will promote us to visitors and also do a  special promotion around the Open Studio as well, so that feels great.

We have been fortunate to get our banner designed and printed. The plan is it will be out whenever we are in - so people can glance down the driveway and know whether we are there or not. Barry is currently down the coast buying sandbags to keep it in place when the wind blows!

Our DL cards were designed by a local printmaking friend Kim Herrings and look great.  We are planning to share them far and wide.

We have managed to do a very detailed inventory which kind of amazes us.  We have even managed to enter most of it into our sales device (square) with quantities etc so we know how many we have left - most exciting even more amazing .

And we have pretty well priced everything too and I have been making up small price cards.

And popping them on display.

We ordered a stamp and have been merrily stamping brown paper bags for wrapping and packing.

Signs have been printed for the doors about the impact of the virus on how many folk we can accommodate at one time and things like that.

Our B-I-G sign for the building on the main street is still happening - just waiting to confirm the size and we should be good to go. Some things take more time it seems.

We have just ordered the parking signs for our parking bays and they should arrive soon.  We are doing things little by little, but there are lots of little!

I have done some small single sheet price lists for the current wall works

And so it goes...there is a lot to being a shopkeeper, promoter and marketer of one's work.  And in our spare moments we are making plenty of product.

But still, its great fun and we are excited to begin...