It’s 7:30 a.m. Saturday morning in NYC. There is plenty of free parking to be had this early in the morning in this part of town. It’s a short walk to the 94th street pier from here. Taxis are dropping off exhibitors at the front doors of the show. You slip through the small crowd and flash your exhibitor photo id to the security at the door. You are ushered in past more security and you quickly walk to your installation hoping that everything is still there and in place and of course it is.
Another look, you double check everything. It can’t get any better. You’re good.
Now you can mingle as the crowd waiting outside builds. The early morning pre-show hours both Saturday and Sunday are like professional association meetings. Mixing is very important. I learned so much from other like minded professionals. We compared notes about our sales, pricing, customers, products and what was trending and what wasn’t. The camaraderie, solidarity between all 400 plus of us was healthy and energizing. At 9:30 an announcement comes across the PA system “the doors will be opening in thirty minutes please be ready.” And with that we wrap up our conversations and head back to our installations.
The next time you hear an announcement its “The doors are open.” And everyone is pressing through the security line with tickets and programs in hand moving quickly to the areas of their major interest. The early openers move quickly in waves to vintage clothing, art, ceramics, antiques, jewelry and others to Americana and modernism. Your thoughts are no longer centered on preparing for the show. You are no longer focused on setting up your installation. Your one and only focus is to be in the moment and interact with each and every person that walks into your installation. You smile, answer questions, hand out business cards and most importantly you sell your wares. The volume of potential customers pulses up and down for most of the day. The slower moments give you time to exhale. On the other hand, along with coffee the up tick in foot traffic keeps you wound up and your focus sharp. The first day is progressing well with sales, price negotiations and people taking photos of your inventory for research or to remember the pieces that they liked. After all, with over 400 vendors there are several thousand items to choose from.
The foot traffic through the afternoon remains steady and the “just looking” browsers from earlier this morning are now returning as paying customers. This adds snap and pop to the neurons that have been firing along your nervous system all day. You’re this far into the day and you realize that you have mastered the business of premier antique shows. And due, in part, by the process of immersion you most certainly have.
The first day of the pier show is drawing to a close and you can feel the weight of the day pressing on you. Your eyes are feeling heavy your shoulders ache. The crowd is thinning it’s getting late. Thoughts of dinner and sleep are now what are most important. Over the PA system closing time has been announced. As the last of the public heads towards the exit and is through the door and before the dust settles, you look over your installation and determine what items you might switch out or what backup items you might bring to the floor early tomorrow morning. Before you head for the exit and search out dinner and your bed you move your remaining inventory back into place. Adding new pieces, cleaning and tweaking can wait until the morning
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