Kiosk at a mall

[DanielPasono]

Has anybody ever tried to sell their pens at a kiosk in a mall? Perhaps only during major holidays. I would imagine theft to be a major concern.

 

[jttheclockman]

I did not do a kiosk but I was selling my scrollsawn projects in 6 stores in 3 highend malls for about 4 years back in the 90's. These stores were like a variety craft store owned by one company who were a husband and wife team The stores were basically run as a consignment system in that you rented space in the store for a fee. They get a percentage but handle all sales transactions, take any orders you may get from customers or at least pass the contact info on. They supplied security and sales staff. If you were doing real well they would call you to tell you to restock, or else you can do a restocking on your own schedule. I found all major holidays were the prime time for sales and the biggest was Christmas. What was nice is that they shared storefront window space with different crafters over that period of time. That was like free advertisement and made more sales out of the front windows than I could even imagine. Have to say I did very well doing this but between my normal job and trying to keep stock up at the stores and making the rounds restocking the areas was quite trying. My shop was humming. At those times I was not into pen making but always had it in the back of my mind from times I seen other crafters when I visited craft shows. To the theft part of this, yes even with the staff they had and security cameras I did have theft and some pieces were not small to carry out such as my 3 foot wall shelves and large magazine racks. I believe some of these thefts were done by maintenance workers after closing hours. What was nice was the owners would compensate me for these thefts. I also had some breakage. So it was not all roses. What got me out of the business was the original owners who really cared about this type business model they started, sold it off and the new owners let it go bad. No one in the store to mind sales, had tremendous more theft and so forth so I just left because it was not worth it. I then started doing more craft shows around the holidays and yes that has its own set of stress but more controllable.

I bring this all up because malls are not what they use to be. A far far far cry from the days when you could not find a parking space especially around Christmas holidays. Now there is less and less people shopping in malls and more kids hanging out in them. Even craft shows are not what they use to be and it is tough to find good quality shows any more. I watched people doing Kiosk sales in malls and the thing with pen sales you can take the product home easily. They are not cheap to rent and you better be able to man them all hours of store openings. It is a job. Malls have different rates for location of kiosks as well as seasonal kiosks so beware of that. Today people shop on line and that has killed the malls. Good luck if you try it. I highly suggest raise all prices if you do kiosks.

 

[Woodchipper]

What John T. said; here the local mall is just about dead. In fact, the present mall is the third one in town. Each one, for whatever reason, died. Another took its place and died. Online, as mentioned, has taken over. I know of people who buy 100% online to avoid parking, crowds, etc. My neighbor has an Amazon box just about every day. FWIW, getting ready to make an Amazon order as the four items would entail going to several places...if they even would have what I need.
I'm looking at placing pens and some turnings at a local market housed in an old textile mill. They handle everything as collecting sales tax, security, etc. They also have vendors close to the Christmas holidays. One can have an inside display and outside display.

 

[DanielPasono]

Thanks guys. I appreciate the feedback.