Sign of the Times

Every year I look forward to the Annual Art Shows that are held on Sanibel Island. They usually offer some very unique items and it is fun to see what every one is making this year. And the Art is usually phenomenal.

The Sanibel Rotary usually holds their 3 day show in February. This year I was away on the weekend it was held so I was not able to attend. The Lions Club has their show in March. This year it is this weekend. I visited the show yesterday.

As usual there were so many nice things to see. We did purchase a totem pole for out by the pool. The art and photography was exquisite as always. But as a person who makes jewelry, that is where my main focus was. My husband knows that he either has to wait or go on without me. I will be a while at the jewelry booths.

The first thing that caught my attention was the prices. Several of the designers had significantly lower prices than in past years. Some even had their original signage up with the price crossed through and the new price written in. At first glance you could think it was a marketing strategy. But judging by the prices I don't think that was the case entirely.

I did talk to several of the vendors. They did say that the traffic through the event was good and sales were fair to moderate depending on who I talked to. Some did tell me that sales were down at other shows and so they were marking down some items to move inventory. The one thing I did notice is that the vendors with lampwork beads and designs seemed to be doing a little better than those with gems and crystals. And for good reason because some of the lampwork designs were extraordinary.

So the message I came away with is that everyone is having to reduce prices on some items to entice sales. But for those who are still buying they are looking for something out of the ordinary and mid price range. The one purchase I witnessed as I was shopping was for a beautiful bracelet with lots of dangles made with lampwork beads (similar to the bracelets made by Risky Beads that is pictured at the top of this post) and the price was $65 which is a good price for the amount of time and beads in this particular piece.

For those of us selling we need to price our items fairly but not so low that we can not afford to continue to do what we do. And for those of us buying there are some good bargains to be had.