Alex bay NY farmers market report

We finally made it to the Alex Bay farmers market last Friday and here is the Alex bay NY farmers market report. I say finally because we have been tied up the past 2 weekends and were not able to attend.

We sold perennials, annuals, hosta, hanging baskets bird feeders and herbs.
The new location is at the Kinny Drug parking lot but the set up is in the grass beside the parking lot in the margin adjacent to NYS Rt 12. This spot is better than the prior location, which was across Rt 12 at the information booth lot for the following reason:

1. People walking from the Bay do not need to cross 2 lanes of traffic and the market is closer to the village.
2. NO GEESE. Goose droppings made the other location messy.
3. There is a dock serving the St. Lawrence River and boaters can make it over from the islands.
4. Plenty of parking for customers and vendors, and the store has a place to keep the signs. Customers these days want to park where they can see their car and many of the customers are elderly and infirm. The handicap parking affords them the ability to park where they only need to walk a few yards.
5. More buyers from the busy drug store and bank shoppers. Vendors need to make sales and good sales insures quality vendors. As with a poorly run craft show you can always find vendors but the quality vendors will not return if there are no sales. They can just as easily sell else where. With out customers the show or market in this case would end up with vendors who have less to offer in the public. In that case the public will not continue to support the efforts and the customer attendance will drop off.

This is especially true of a small market with out a secondary draw such as the State Office Building at the Watertown Market.

6. Retained visibility and increased safety. The prior spot had traffic passing at high speed and there were numerous incidents and near misses. Here the traffic is just coming through a light and going much slower to begin with.

We has a good day selling and we were able to hand out more literature hopping we can coax more visitors to the greenhouse. We are hoping that investing the time to set up with help insure the markets success and pay off for us in advertising as well.

Every customer we asked thought this is a better location.

I will go out on a limb and predict this could be a very popular market attracting dozens of vendors and thousands of shoppers.