This sounds excellent! Can't wait to check out in person (possibly with Tony B) next month at GCUC Canada!
We've experimented with this as well at Dallas Fort Work, but not in any form of permanent capacity. We've had two iterations of what we called "Little Downtown Market" in collaboration with an existing Etsy Bazaar organizer. Each of the 40-50 vendors came and set up their own booths to sell their wares for 3-4 hours and we were able to get an alcohol sponsor to provide free libations as well. We were able to draw 300-400 people to each event and it barely generated enough sales to be worth it for the vendors. About 1/4 asked for a refund on their booth fees as we'd offered a moneyback guarantee to ensure a packed house of vendors. What we found is that it wasn't worth the vendors time to pay, come and setup without a large crowd of people. I understand that your model is a bit different in terms of being worth someone's time, but the sales side of it is a very similar consideration. We also have a full-time art gallery where we sell art from local artists and discovered something very similar. We pretty much old were successful at selling pieces on opening nights with the support of a large public event that drew 100's of people. The 15-20 people walking into the art gallery a day wasn't enough to generate any meaningful sales. So to make a long story short, what we found is that the goods don't sell themselves. They need a large group of people to see them (preferably all at once) to generate sales. And in terms of being worth people's time to staff the shop, it definitely requires a density of people all at once to be worth it. When we looked at alternatives of drawing people in smaller buckets, we kept running into the same consideration, which was why have 10 50 person events if you can have one 500 person event with almost the same costs? Hope that experience is useful to you, Oren On Monday, August 10, 2015 at 1:39:57 PM UTC-5, ruyoung wrote: > > > Hey folks, > > I have exciting news and a question. > > We've been looking for a way to engage local small-scale manufacturers and > artisans with our coworking space, and encourage shopping locally. When the > ground floor and basement of our building opened up, we quickly realised > what that could look like. > > We started a new membership level for artisans, manufacturers, designers, > artists, and makers to be members of our coworking space and use parts of > the building for what they need. > > Last week we launched the Camaraderie Artisan Market > <http://t.signauxdeux.com/e1t/c/5/f18dQhb0SmZ58dDMPbW2n0x6l2B9nMJW7sM9dn7dK_MMdBzM2-04?t=http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2FcArtisanMarket&si=5437397447737344&pi=eaf30175-0516-46cd-f1e1-25434f05c77f>. > > It's a permanent retail store specifically for artisans and manufacturers. > Members pay a monthly membership fee to have their goods sold in the > market, which we staff and manage entirely, and we don't take a commission > on their sales (because we already charge them a monthly membership fee and > won't double dip). With their membership they can also use the basement to > produce their goods, and use the 2nd and 3rd floor of the building for > meetings with buyers, staff interviews, administration of their business, > and collaboration with what are now our more traditional coworking members. > It really is an all-inclusive use of the building and a way for us to > celebrate local artisans in a collaborative way. And it's pretty rad! > > If you're in town for GCUC Canada next month, I encourage you to come by > for some shopping and I'll chat with the artisans to see if we can offer a > store-wide discount to conference attendees. > > And so my question: I know of coworking spaces with makerspaces for makers > to make goods and prototypes, and I know of coworking spaces for artists > with artist studios, and I know of coworking spaces with cafes. But are > there any other coworking spaces with retail for physical goods? I'm > particularly curious if there are coworking spaces with retail like this > that are exclusively for the members of their space. Anyone know of any? > r. > > > > > > *____________________rachel young*[email protected] <javascript:> > > *We're located at 2241 Dundas St W, 3rd floor* > *(between Bloor and Roncesvalles)* > > *Find us online:* > Website/blog > <http://t.signauxdeux.com/e1t/c/5/f18dQhb0SmZ58dDMPbW2n0x6l2B9nMJW7sM9dn7dK_MMdBzM2-04?t=http%3A%2F%2Fcamaraderie.ca%2F&si=5437397447737344&pi=eaf30175-0516-46cd-f1e1-25434f05c77f> > and Newsletter > <http://t.signauxdeux.com/e1t/c/5/f18dQhb0SmZ58dDMPbW2n0x6l2B9nMJW7sM9dn7dK_MMdBzM2-04?t=http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2Fcamaraderienewsletter&si=5437397447737344&pi=eaf30175-0516-46cd-f1e1-25434f05c77f> > , Twitter > <http://t.signauxdeux.com/e1t/c/5/f18dQhb0SmZ58dDMPbW2n0x6l2B9nMJW7sM9dn7dK_MMdBzM2-04?t=http%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fcamaraderie&si=5437397447737344&pi=eaf30175-0516-46cd-f1e1-25434f05c77f> > , > Facebook > <http://t.signauxdeux.com/e1t/c/5/f18dQhb0SmZ58dDMPbW2n0x6l2B9nMJW7sM9dn7dK_MMdBzM2-04?t=http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2F9zv3Fx&si=5437397447737344&pi=eaf30175-0516-46cd-f1e1-25434f05c77f> > , Google+ > <http://t.signauxdeux.com/e1t/c/5/f18dQhb0SmZ58dDMPbW2n0x6l2B9nMJW7sM9dn7dK_MMdBzM2-04?t=http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2FCamaraderiePlus&si=5437397447737344&pi=eaf30175-0516-46cd-f1e1-25434f05c77f> > , Yelp > <http://t.signauxdeux.com/e1t/c/5/f18dQhb0SmZ58dDMPbW2n0x6l2B9nMJW7sM9dn7dK_MMdBzM2-04?t=http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2FCamaraderieYelp&si=5437397447737344&pi=eaf30175-0516-46cd-f1e1-25434f05c77f>, > > and LinkedIn > <http://t.signauxdeux.com/e1t/c/5/f18dQhb0SmZ58dDMPbW2n0x6l2B9nMJW7sM9dn7dK_MMdBzM2-04?t=http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2FCamaraderieGroup&si=5437397447737344&pi=eaf30175-0516-46cd-f1e1-25434f05c77f> > > *New Camaraderie locations:* > Artisan Market > <http://t.signauxdeux.com/e1t/c/5/f18dQhb0SmZ58dDMPbW2n0x6l2B9nMJW7sM9dn7dK_MMdBzM2-04?t=http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2FcArtisanMarket&si=5437397447737344&pi=eaf30175-0516-46cd-f1e1-25434f05c77f> > > (Toronto) - now open! > Port Credit > <http://t.signauxdeux.com/e1t/c/5/f18dQhb0SmZ58dDMPbW2n0x6l2B9nMJW7sM9dn7dK_MMdBzM2-04?t=http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2FcamaraderiePC&si=5437397447737344&pi=eaf30175-0516-46cd-f1e1-25434f05c77f> > (Mississauga) > - summer 2015 > > We're a proud member of CoworkingToronto > <http://t.signauxdeux.com/e1t/c/5/f18dQhb0SmZ58dDMPbW2n0x6l2B9nMJW7sM9dn7dK_MMdBzM2-04?t=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.coworkingtoronto.ca%2F&si=5437397447737344&pi=eaf30175-0516-46cd-f1e1-25434f05c77f> > , > CoworkingOntario > <http://t.signauxdeux.com/e1t/c/5/f18dQhb0SmZ58dDMPbW2n0x6l2B9nMJW7sM9dn7dK_MMdBzM2-04?t=http%3A%2F%2Fcoworkingontario.ca%2F&si=5437397447737344&pi=eaf30175-0516-46cd-f1e1-25434f05c77f>, > > and CoworkingCanada > <http://t.signauxdeux.com/e1t/c/5/f18dQhb0SmZ58dDMPbW2n0x6l2B9nMJW7sM9dn7dK_MMdBzM2-04?t=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.coworkingcanada.ca%2F&si=5437397447737344&pi=eaf30175-0516-46cd-f1e1-25434f05c77f> > ! > > -- Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. 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