My first pop-up shop in Austin was a total ghost town for two hours

I forgot to check the city event calendar, and a huge festival was happening three blocks away. I packed up my table and moved my whole setup to the festival entrance, and made my sales goal by the end of the day. How do you guys do location scouting to avoid that kind of overlap?

3 comments

3 Comments

josephmurray23d ago

I used to just pick a spot that looked busy on a normal day. Got burned at a farmers market in Portland that got totally rained out one Saturday, zero foot traffic. Now I check three things before I commit. I look at the city's official event calendar, the local subreddit for that weekend, and even the weather forecast a week out. It adds maybe twenty minutes of homework but saves a whole day of standing around.

campbell.evan23d ago

Honestly I just show up early and talk to the other vendors. They always know if something got canceled or if the crowd is off. Calendars and forecasts are fine, but local gossip is the real intel.

reese862d ago

You guys are doing all that? I just show up and see what happens. How much planning does a street corner really need?