Thursday, June 17, 2004

A few pictures of my booth...

***NOTE***

SORRY! Geocities wiped my pictures *insert sarcasm here* THANKS GEOCITIES! I'll try to upload the pictures asap. :-)

Here are (WERE!) a few pictures of my flea market booth from a few weeks (A WHILE!) back.

Watches


Sunglasses


Necklaces

Wholesale sources are hard to find

Yep. That says it all... wholesale sources are hard to find. All the really good ones are strictly 'word-of-mouth'. I probably search 2-3 hours a day on the internet, and I'm lucky to find 1 good source a day.

Lately I've been trying smaller or specialized search engines and odd word search combinations. Example: instead of "watches+wholesale" I tried "wholesale+chinatown" and got some surprising results. It just dawned on me one day that LA and NY both have a 'Chinatown' area, and importers/wholesalers might be there. I found a few leads and if I find anything good, I'll post it here.

I found a new source for Geneva style watches. It looks pretty good, with only a $300 minimum. I've spoken with a few of my usual sources and they all say you really have to visit NY or LA in person and scour the wholesale districts in person. Also, a trip to one of the big 'shows' in Las Vegas or NY will reveal more sources than you can throw a stick at.

If my sales projections keep a good pace, I may have enough saved up to take a road trip to Vegas in August for the big shows. (fingers crossed)

TTFN... here's some more goodies:


Los Angeles Chinese Chamber of Commerce

http://www.lachinesechamber.org/

NY + Chinatown + watches yahoo search results

Yahoo search results click here

Jewelry Industry News

http://www.topix.net/business/jewelry

Sunday, June 13, 2004

What's new today?

I've been busy doing research and trying to find more wholesale sources. I didn't sell at the flea market this weekend. I felt a little lazy, and it was too hot and humid anyway.

I've also been trying to redo the blog template with little success. I'm trying to add my 'smallbizlinks webring' code unsuccessfully. My old site (before FUSE messed it up) had a javascript navbar supplied by http://www.webring.org It is pretty cool, actually. But for some reason the blog template won't let me add the code. I'm still trying! :-)

Anyhoo... I've been waiting to order new merchandise, in preparation for Father's Day next weekend. I *may* get some of the proverbial 'father's day ties' to use as an upsell or backend added value for my good old mainstay, watches. Speaking of which, more new watches due sometime in the next few days.

I now specialize in watches, sunglasses (another order coming this week), necklaces, and new this week are 'cooling bandannas'!

These things are really neat! They really work too! I got a sample from the mfg... they are a sewn bandana filled with some absorbant material that 'plumps' and absorbs 1000 times it's weight in water. You soak them in cool water for 1/2 hour and then tie it around your neck. It cools by evaporation. It really works! I've got a bulk pack and a display unit coming this week as well. I'm going to set up a cooler of water and a display sign, and sell them for $3 each or 2 for $5. I think they'll sell well in this hot, humid Ohio summer weather.

Enough for now... Here's some interesting links:

T-shirts
http://www.wholesalecentral.com/tshirtdistribution/store.cfm

Ties
http://www.wildties.com/


Free Business Cards!

http://www.vistaprint.com (look for link on left)

Have a GREAT DAY!