Thursday, November 5, 2009

Last Minute Preparations

My open house begins Saturday morning, and since I work full time (plus some!), I have precious little time left before the shopping begins. I have made some great preparations so far:

New items created since my last show.
New items have been priced and photographed for posterity.
New items hit a wide variety of price points, so most people will be able to find something in their range.
Gift certificates have been printed for easy gift purchases.
ProPay is set up to accept credit cards at the show. I'll have my computer set up at check-out.
I have some older items marked as clearance, which is always popular!
I have plenty of business cards ready to pass out.
{and a big one}
My house is clean!!!

What I still need to do before the show:
Stock up on bags/boxes for the check-out process.
Print and attach tags to all of my new items.
Get snacks and beverages.
Go to the bank and get some small bills, for those who pay in cash and need change. (I always forget this!!!)

I have a lovely friend who has offered to come over Friday night and help me set up. It's always challenging, figuring out how to turn your house into a store. I need to decide what surfaces will work as displays, bring more lighting into the spaces, and try to make things look good! All while trying to mess up the house the LEAST possible, because our home is currently on the market and for sale. So, we have to be ready for a realtor to call us and be able to pull the house together again on short notice.

What do you think? Am I forgetting anything?? Leave me a comment if you can think of something I should do that would make my open house even better. I'm hoping for a good turn-out, and I really hope that people are pleasantly surprised by what they find!

2 comments:

  1. So you're having an open house to sell your house but you're also setting up to sell your jewelry? Or is it an open house just for jewelry? I'm curious because it sounds like it's just for the jewelry and I've never heard of someone doing that before.

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  2. Hi Niki! The open house is a jewelry sale - like a trunk show. I have one in my home each November. Even my computer literate friends still prefer to shop in person, rather than looking at Etsy! The show has always been a big success for me - I invite everyone I know, serve wine and snacks, and turn my downstairs into a store! I sell more in one night than I'll ever sell on Etsy :) It just so happens this year that we are trying to move, and have our house on the market. So, it's really just an extra thing to worry about - our phone might ring with a realtor asking to show the house. Feel free to contact me if you want more details about the open house concept!

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Hi there. Leave me a comment and let me know your thoughts!!!